Two coalition service members, including a British soldier, die in southern Afghanistan

May 3rd, 2010 - 2:46 am ICT by BNO News  

KABUL (BNO NEWS) — Two coalition service members, including a British soldier, were killed in two separate attacks in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, officials said.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said one of its soldiers was killed in an explosion that happened near PB Waterloo in Sangin, a town in the country’s southern Helmand Province.

“It is with deep sadness I must inform you that a soldier from 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment, part of 40 Commando Battle Group, was killed in Sangin this morning,” said Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand. “He was providing protection to his fellow soldiers who were returning from a patrol when tragically he was killed in an explosion. He will be greatly missed and his actions will not be forgotten.”

The identity of the soldier was not immediately released as next of kin asked for a 24 hour period of grace. The NATO-led ISAF alliance earlier said that a coalition soldier was killed in an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan.

In a second attack, also in the country’s south, a coalition soldier was killed as a result of injuries sustained in an improvised explosive device (IED) attack. His nationality was not immediately released.

The casualties bring the total number of coalition troops killed in Afghanistan so far this year to 166, including at least 101 coalition service members from the United States, according to a BNO News count based on official data. The British soldier killed on Sunday was the country’s 37th fatality in Afghanistan so far this year.

On Saturday, a coalition soldier was killed in eastern Afghanistan following an indirect fire attack. His nationality has not been released yet.

The last British service member to die in Afghanistan was Fusilier Jonathan Antony Burgess, 20, from Swansea. He died southeast of Showal in the Nad-e Ali District of central Helmand Province on April 7 when he was shot during an exchange of fire with insurgents.

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