Bomb blast kills British soldier in southern Afghanistan

[News_Editor]

Bomb blast kills British soldier in southern Afghanistan

2012-03-22 12:57:30 GMT+7 (ICT)

KABUL, Afghanistan (BNO NEWS) -- A British soldier was killed on Wednesday when a roadside bomb targeted a patrol in southern Afghanistan, Britain's Ministry of Defense said. It raises the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 405.

Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Mackenzie, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said the soldier was killed when he was struck by an explosion in the Mirmandab region of Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province. He was working alongside an Afghan security forces' patrol.

"Sadly, I must report that a soldier from the 2nd Battalion, The Mercian Regiment was killed in an explosion from an improvised explosive device while working alongside an Afghan security forces' patrol to disrupt insurgents in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand Province," Mackenzie said. "The thoughts and condolences of everyone serving in the Task Force are with his family and friends."

Mackenzie said the soldier's family has been informed and have asked for a 24-hour period of grace before other details are released.

Wednesday's death raises the number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 84, according to official figures. Six British soldiers were killed earlier this month when a roadside bomb struck an armored vehicle in Helmand province, making it the war's worst single loss of British life in one incident due to enemy action.

There are currently more than 130,000 ISAF troops in Afghanistan, including some 90,000 U.S. troops and more than 9,500 British soldiers. U.S. President Barack Obama previously ordered a drawdown of 23,000 U.S. troops later this year, and foreign combat troops are due to leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2012-03-22

[uptheos]

Does anyone have any idea what we're doing in Afghanistan?

They all hate us and we'll leave eventually, so why not get the fcuck out now?

[flying]

Does anyone have any idea what we're doing in Afghanistan?

They all hate us and we'll leave eventually, so why not get the fcuck out now?

It seems the act of saving face is not limited to Thailand......Yet only a fool would continue to spend their country's future saving it.

[oldsailor35]

Afghanistan is littered with War Lords all with their own private armies. They have been fighting since time began and will be fighting long after we have left this earth. So why in the hell do we stay there. We should just get the hell out and let them get on with it. Then we could truely say "who gives a <deleted>"

Edited March 26, 2012 by oldsailor35