City-based soldier killed

A SOLDIER from a city-based regiment has died in an explosion while on foot patrol in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

The soldier, from 3rd Battalion The Rifles, was killed yesterday by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) in the Kajaki area of Helmand province. His family has been informed.

His death takes the British military death toll since operations began in Afghanistan in 2001 to 280.

He is also the sixth member of 3 Rifles killed over the past month.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, said: "His courage and resolve, confronting the enemy and the dangers of IEDs day on day, will not be forgotten; we will remember him."