[Anglo]

30/07/2008

Another British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, the latest victim of an increasingly bloody wave of violence that has left 16 Britons dead since the start of June.

The Ministry of Defence announced this morning that a member of the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment died yesterday during a routine patrol in Helmand province.

The patrol encountered enemy fighters at around 9am yesterday morning and, during an exchange of fire, one British soldier was injured in an explosion. He was airlifted from the scene to Camp Bastion but died of his injuries during the flight.

Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds said: "Everyone in Task Force Helmand is affected by the death of a soldier, and the thoughts and sympathies of us all are with the family at this most difficult time." The soldier's next of kin have been informed.

The latest death is the third this week after Sergeant Jonathan William Mathews of The Highlanders, 4th Battalion, The Royal Regiment was killed on Monday.

At the time of his death, Sgt Mathews was attached to 1st Battalion The Royal Irish Regiment Battle Group in southern Afghanistan, serving as a mentor and trainer to the developing Afghan Army.

He had been on patrol with the Afghan Army in an operation to protect local police near the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. Sgt Matthews was struck by a single bullet as he investigated reports of a Taleban ambush.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, said: "Sgt Mathews was, by all accounts, an exemplary soldier; a true professional in every sense of the word. He was a committed and brave individual who was making an incredibly important contribution to the defence of our country.”

Last Thursday, Lance Corporal Kenneth Michael Rowe of the Royal Army Veterinary Corps was killed alongside his explosives sniffer dog in Helmand province, in the south of the country.

Southern Afghanistan is at the centre of the Taleban-led insurgency that has killed more than 2,700 people so far this year.

Yesterday’s fatality brings the British death toll in Afghanistan to 114 since the start of operations in November 2001.