By IRNA,
London : British casualties in Afghanistan continued to mount Thursday with four more soldiers killed in an unspecific ‘vehicle incident’ near a checkpoint in Helmand province.
According to the Ministry of Defence in London, the four soldiers were as part of a Police Advisory Team in northern Nahr-e Saraj and the vehicle incident happened near Gereshk on Wednesday night.
“They were part of a team that was travelling to assist in an incident at a nearby checkpoint when they were killed in a vehicle incident,” spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith, was quoted saying without giving further details.
The latest deaths come after four Royal Marines have been killed in the past four days in the Sangin district of Helmand province, where British troops have suffered almost a third of their total fatalities.
Eighteen soldiers have died so far this month, including nine in the past seven days. The total number of British deaths in Afghanistan has now reached 307 since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001.
Prime Minister David Cameron told MPs last week after visiting British troops in Helmand province to expect further casualties when the “so-called fighting season resumes”.
“The current year is the vital one. We are six months into an 18-month military surge and we must now redouble our efforts to drive progress,” Cameron said.