Four Die in Deadliest Attack on UK Troops Since Start of Hostilities

By Sam Marsden; Tom Morgan

Four British soldiers, including one woman, were killed in the deadliest attack on UK forces in Afghanistan since hostilities began in 2001.

This is the first time a female British soldier has died in action in the troubled country and takes the UK’s death toll over a 10 days to nine.

The troops were taking part in a planned operation east of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province yesterday afternoon when their vehicle was caught in an explosion.

Three of the soldiers were killed in the blast and the fourth was pronounced dead on arrival at Camp Bastion, the Ministry of Defence said.

It is understood that the woman was serving with the Army’s Intelligence Corps and the men were special forces reservists with the 23rd SAS Regiment.

A fifth soldier wounded in the attack is said to be in a stable condition.

A total of 106 British service personnel have died since the start of operations in Afghanistan in November 2001.

Yesterday’s incident was the biggest single loss of life for British troops since September 2006, when 14 personnel were killed when an RAF Nimrod came down near Kandahar.

An inquest in May found that enemy action was not a factor in the aircraft’s crash.

Six other British servicewomen have been killed in the Middle East since the Iraq war began in 2003.

The Ministry of Defence would not confirm what kind of vehicle the soldiers were in when they were hit by the blast on Tuesday, but it was reported to be a Snatch Land Rover.

Coroners and opposition politicians have voiced concerns that troops in Afghanistan have not been given enough protection against roadside bombs.

Experts have called for military vehicles to be given extra protection against improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and for British forces to be provided with more helicopters.

Conservative MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army officer, said: “Helicopters are still vulnerable, but they’re not vulnerable to this sort of weapon.”

Prime Minister Gordon Brown expressed his “deepest condolences” to the families of the four soldiers killed.

He said British forces had made “great progress” against the Taliban, noting that the insurgents were increasingly using mines and roadside bombs rather than open combat.

Mr Brown told Prime Minister’s Questions: “They are no longer fighting as an army. They are fighting as an insurgency…

“That is why we are re-ordering the way our forces work in Afghanistan and that is why we are taking new equipment to Afghanistan.

“We are well equipped and will be better equipped in the months to come to deal with this new problem.”

Defence Secretary Des Browne rejected suggestions that British troops in Afghanistan could start “losing heart” after the recent surge in casualties.

Speaking after a memorial service in Edinburgh for soldiers who have lost their lives in Afghanistan, he said: “We just have to convince everybody that these sacrifices, these losses, are necessary for the safety of the world and I think there’s a general acceptance that that is the case.”

Before the recent deaths, military leaders and analysts had suggested the tide could be turning in the battle against the Taliban.

Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith, the commander of British forces in Helmand, said earlier this month that the fight against insurgents was at a “tipping point”.

He said: “The Taliban are much weaker. The tide is clearly ebbing, not flowing, for them. Their chain of command is disrupted.”

Mr Browne announced on Monday that hundreds more British personnel would be deployed to Afghanistan, taking troop numbers to a record high of 8,030 by next spring.

News of the four deaths came as Afghan and Canadian troops launched an operation to drive Taliban militants out of villages in southern Afghanistan.

Afghan officials said at least 23 insurgents were killed in clashes in the Arghandab region to the north-west of Kandahar city.

The Taliban launched an attack on Arghandab three days after freeing 400 of their fighters from Sarposa Prison in Kandahar.

(c) 2008 Birmingham Post; Birmingham (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.