9:41am Friday 10th July 2009
© Press Association 2011
Another two British soldiers have died in southern Afghanistan, taking the death toll to nine in nine days.
The first, from 4th Battalion The Rifles, was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol near Nad-e-Ali in Helmand Province on Thursday afternoon.
The other soldier, from Princess of Wales' Royal Regiment attached to 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died from a gunshot wound following a battle with insurgents near Lashkar Gah in Helmand on Thursday night.
The second serviceman was taking part in Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw, a major assault against the Taliban in Helmand ahead of next month's Afghan elections.
Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Nick Richardson said: "These fine British soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice and their memory will live with us forever. We mourn their loss and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends at this very sad time. We know that their deaths were not in vain."
The soldiers' next of kin have been informed.
The deaths take the number of British troops who have died in Afghanistan since the start of operations in October 2001 to 178, just one short of the total toll in the Iraq conflict.
The grim news came as another five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the past week - four in Operation Panchai Palang - were being returned to the UK. Their bodies will be flown into RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire.
Lance Corporal David Dennis, 29, from Llanelli, south Wales, of the Light Dragoons, and Private Robert Laws, 18, from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, of 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment, died in separate incidents in Helmand on Saturday. Lance Corporal Dane Elson, 22, who was born in Zimbabwe but had moved to Bridgend, south Wales, of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed in an explosion on Sunday.
Captain Ben Babington-Browne, 27, from Maidstone, Kent, of 22 Engineer Regiment, Royal Engineers, died in a helicopter crash in Zabul Province on Monday. Trooper Christopher Whiteside, 20, from Blackpool, of The Light Dragoons, died in a blast caused by an improvised explosive device near Gereshk in Helmand on Tuesday.
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/trade_directory/