SANA

LONDON (SANA): Three British soldiers died after a bomb blew up their lightly armoured Land Rover in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan — the deadliest attack on British troops this year.

A Marine from 45 Commando also died yesterday at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham, two days after being shot in a clash with the Taliban north of Sangin in Helmand. He had been flown home.

The three killed yesterday were all from the 1st Battalion The Rifles. They had been escorting other British troops to a meeting with the Afghan National Army in Gereshk, central Helmand. Initial investigations indicate that the concealed bomb or mine was detonated either by a wire or buried pressure plates.

Eighty per cent of British fatalities in Afghanistan have been caused by explosive devices.

The deaths were the latest blow for The Rifles, who have suffered a high casualty rate since they were deployed to Helmand in October as part of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines. Eight soldiers from The Rifles have been killed in Helmand in two months, seven of them from the 1st Battalion.

The battalion is a light infantry unit that has been trained in a commando role. Many of its troops have completed the Royal Marine’s commando course. At present there are more than 500 from the regiment serving in Afghanistan, 300 of whom are involved in mentoring the Afghan Army.

The latest losses, including the Marine who died in hospital, bring British fatalities in Afghanistan to 149 since October 2001, 120 from enemy action.

The latest British casualties came as President Obama prepared to set out a 19-month timetable for pulling US combat troops out of Iraq to focus America’s main effort on Afghanistan.