British soldier's death takes Afghan toll to 222

Published on Thursday 22 October 2009 22:15

A BRITISH soldier has been killed by a blast in southern Afghanistan.

The serviceman, from the Royal Military Police, died while on foot patrol near Gereshk district centre in Helmand Province yesterday morning, the Ministry of Defence said.

Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: " He died doing his duty."

The soldier's family have been informed. The death was the fourth this month and takes the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001 to 222.

Meanwhile, a substantial international military presence will be needed in Afghanistan for another five years, the head of the army has said. General Sir David Richards said that there were not enough international forces in the country to complete the mission and hand over responsibility to the Afghans.

He strongly endorsed the strategy drawn up by General Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of international forces in the country, who is calling for an additional 40,000 troops.

"We are in a period of risk where we haven't got enough troops in the round. So we need a bridging force to enable us to contain the Taleban while we much more aggressively grow the Afghan army and police," Gen Richards said.