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UK maintains fall-back in troop casualties in Afghanistan

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

London, Oct 29, IRNA -- Britain is maintaining a fall-back in the number of fatalities and casualties suffered by its own troops in Afghanistan, according to the latest figures published by the Ministry of Defence on Friday.

The number of British troops so far killed this month has fallen to three, down from six in September and seven in August. In July the number was 16 and in August, 20.

The figures show that Britain’s 10,000 troops, largely deployed in Helmand province, also suffered only one serious injury and none seriously wounded in the first half of October, the same number as in the two previous weeks, but down from the first half of September, when five were seriously injured, including two very seriously.

During the summer, British casualties were numbering almost 20 a month, including half classified as very seriously injured or wounded.

Field hospital admissions also show a decline in the number of UK soldiers wounded in action, falling from rates of up to 71 in a month between May and July, down to 40 in August, 46 in September and 12 in the first half of November.

Likewise, the number of aeromedical evacuations has dropped from over a hundred a month to 77 in September and 34 during the first two weeks of October.

No explanation has been provided for the fall-back in casualties, whether operational or seasonal, but it coincides with a redeployment of UK troops from such outposts as Sangin in Helmand province, where almost one third of the 341 UK troops killed in Afghanistan have occurred.

In recent months, the UK has adopted a reduced role by handing over Helmand outposts to US troops and the splitting of Regional Command in southern Afghanistan into two new headquarters based in Helmand and Kandahar.

Concern has been about the disproportionate number of British deaths, which has been around a third of the number suffered by US but with ten times the number of troops. The rate earlier this year was reported to be higher than suffered during the Soviet occupation.