Three more soldiers die as Afghan toll hits 174

A THIRD British soldier has been killed over the weekend in southern Afghanistan, bringing to 174 the total number of UK services personnel killed during the deployment in the country.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) last night announced that the soldier, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, died while taking part in one of the UK military's biggest co-ordinated air operations of modern times.

Earlier, they had announced that a soldier from 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket-propelled grenade attack and another soldier from the Light Dragoons was killed in an explosion.

Their deaths came during a "deliberate operation" near Gereshk, central Helmand, on Saturday night.

The MoD said the soldiers' families had been informed, although no identities had been issued last night.

A spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant-Colonel Nick Richardson, said: "The loss of these soldiers, and colleagues, has come as a huge blow to us all. But it is the family, friends and loved ones, as well as the men and women who served alongside them, who feel the greatest pain, and we offer them our deepest and heartfelt condolences and take consolation from the fact that their deaths are not in vain."

Brigadier-General Eric Tremblay, of the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said: "Our soldiers grieve once again for the loss of these first-rate men. On behalf of their brothers and sisters in arms, I wish to offer my deep sympathies to the families and friends of our fallen comrades."

The deaths follow the loss on Wednesday of the most senior British Army officer to be killed since the Falklands War.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe, the commanding officer of the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed in a blast which hit his Viking armoured vehicle near Lashkar Gah in Helmand.

Trooper Joshua Hammond died alongside Lt-Col Thorneloe in the attack. Trooper Hammond's fiancée, Emma Green, 19, told how he promised her he would "come home safe".

The young soldier died just over three weeks before he was due to return on leave to Plymouth to start planning his wedding next year.

Ms Green said she last spoke to Trooper Hammond on 22 June. "The last thing he said was that he loved me, and he promised he would come home safe," she said.

Last week, nearly 4,000 newly arrived US Marines and 650 Afghan troops launched a massive operation – Khanjar, or Strike of the Sword – in Taleban-controlled areas of Helmand.