Two soldier killed in Musa Qalah before UK leaves
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
London, March 17, IRNA -- Two British soldiers have been killed in an explosion in the Musa Qalah area of Helmand province in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced Wednesday.
The deaths come as British troops are due to hand over responsibility for the security of the outpost in northern Helmand to US forces as part of a major "rebalancing" of UK forces in Afghanistan.
The MoD announced on Tuesday that a soldier died in hospital in Birmingham, central England, after being injured in an explosion while on a patrol to the north of Musa Qalah district centre last month.
Nine British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan so far this month. The other six died in the Sangin region of Helmand, where so far there has been no announcement on whether Britain will transfer control to American reinforcements sent to Afghanistan.
Since moving into Musa Qalah district in 2006, 26 British soldiers have lost there lives, while no less that 50 have been killed in and around Sangin in the past year.
Britain’s mounting death toll in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001 has reached 275, nearly 100 more than was killed in Iraq and more than in the 1982 Falklands war.
When announcing the transfer of security of Musa Qalah to the US last week, Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said the redeployment will allow Britain’s 10,000 troops to concentrate on central Helmand, the most heavily populated area of the province.
“Further changes are likely in due course, as the ISAF force laydown continues to evolve to increase the presence of ISAF and Afghan forces across the main population centres in the province,” Ainsworth told MPs.
2220**345**1432
End News / IRNA / News Code 1017766
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
