LOC23:11
20:11 GMT
LONDON, March 27 (KUNA) -- A British soldier from Third Battalion 'The
Rifles' has been killed by a suicide car bomber in southern Afghanistan, the
UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) announced Saturday.
The soldier, who was on patrol at the time of the attack, died on Saturday
afternoon after an explosion that occured one kilometer east of Sangin, in
Helmand Province.
He had been providing protection for soldiers who had just deactivated an
unexploded insurgent bomb when the attack happened, the MOD added.
"The bomb had been successfully dealt with, and the soldiers had continued
on their foot patrol when a suicide bomber in a car detonated himself near
them, a Defence spokeman said.
He is the eighth soldier from The Rifles to have died in the conflict this
month.
Some 276 British military personnel have now been killed in Afghanistan
since operations began in 2001.
The death was not related to Operation Moshtarak, a major offensive against
the Taliban involving thousands of British troops.
There are around 9,500 UK troops in Afghanistan, the majority of whom are
deployed in the tense southern Helmand province, a hotbed of insurgency. (end)
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