UK soldier killed by Taliban

The serviceman, from the 1st Battalion, Royal Anglian Regiment, had been part of a routine patrol when they spotted a small group of Taliban jihadis attempting to set up an ambush, the Ministry of Defence said.

A firefight broke out but the group of five Taliban fighters were quickly joined by more heavily armed men with mortars, 107mm rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and small arms.

The soldier, who has not been named, received serious gunshot wounds and was evacuated by a Chinook helicopter, which came under gunfire as the battle continued. An Apache helicopter gunship supported the evacuation, the MoD said, firing a 30mm cannon at the Taliban fighters.

He was taken to Camp Bastion where he was pronounced dead on arrival. His next of kin have been informed. He was the fifth British serviceman to die in Afghanistan in the past five weeks and his death took the number of UK troops killed in operations there since 2001 to 53, of which 22 died from accidents, illness, or non-combat injuries.

The same patrol, which had been returning to its base near the town of Now Zad, in Helmand province, was later involved in another fierce gunfight.

Two soldiers from the regiment, also known as the Vikings, were wounded in that clash and were also airlifted to Camp Bastion. The MoD said their condition was not serious. A spokesman for the MoD, said: "An initial estimate is that a significant number of the enemy were killed."

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2447735.ece