By IRNA
London : A British soldier has died after being shot in Basra, southern Iraq, the Ministry of Defence in London announced Tuesday.
The soldier, from the 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh yet to be named, was said to have been killed as a result of a small arms fire attack during an operation in the Al Fursi district of the city on Monday night.
His death brings the total of British soldiers killed in Iraq since the 2003 invasion to 165, including 37 so far this year, 10 more than during the whole of 2006 and nearly three times the number that died in 2005.
The total so far killed in 2007 is also more than the 33 fatalities suffered by Britain from the beginning of the invasion in March 2003 until the end of major combat operations was declared two months later.
The high casualty rate comes as a further 24 British soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan so far this year compared with 39 during 2006 and only four between the 2001 invasion and 2005.