Four British soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq

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Four British soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq
1st August 2006





British soldiers in Afganistans. The latest casualties bring the death toll to 16 since hostilities began




Four British soldiers died today in separate incidents in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Three servicemen were killed when their patrol vehicle came under attack from insurgents in the Helmand province in southern Afghanistan.

In Iraq, a soldier serving with the 1st Battalion Light Infantry became the first soldier to die in an attack on a UK military base.

In one of the deadliest strikes against British troops stationed in Afghanistan in recent months, Taliban militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns ambushed the patrol.

The soldiers were part of a the Nato-led international security assistance force carrying out duties in the north of the volatile province.

A fourth soldier was seriously injured and was evacuated to a military hospital where he is in a critical condition.

The Ministry of Defence said the soldiers, who were all travelling in the same vehicle, came under attack at 7.30am local time (4am BST). The vehicle was destroyed in the attack.

In Iraq, the soldier died after a multinational force base in Basra city came under mortar fire at 3am local time (midnight BST).

He was taken to hospital by helicopter but died from his injuries.

The death is the first time a British soldier has been killed inside a military base in Iraq by enemy action.

Responding to today's heavy death toll, Defence Secretary Des Browne paid tribute to the efforts of British troops and stressed his commitment to operations in both countries.

He said: "This morning's news from Afghanistan and Iraq is very sad.

"I know I speak for everyone when I say that our thoughts are with the families and friends of the soldiers who were killed and injured.

"Those responsible for the attacks on our soldiers in Northern Helmand do not want to see security and prosperity brought to the local people.

"We cannot allow them to succeed, and we remain committed to seeing through our part in this vital international effort.

"Nor will the sad death of a British soldier in Basra deflect our support to the elected government in Iraq.

"In both Iraq and Afghanistan our troops are doing a tough job magnificently well. Their courage and commitment demands nothing but admiration."

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox, who recently accompanied Conservative leader David Cameron on a three-day visit to Afghanistan, said: "I visited troops in Helmand last week and was enormously impressed with their courage, commitment and professionalism.

"All our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends."

Referring to the deaths of the three soldiers in Afghanistan, Liberal Democrat shadow defence secretary Nick Harvey said: "These tragic deaths underline the need for a clear military strategy, with achievable objectives.

"This is a vital mission, but with the head of Nato forces describing the country as 'close to anarchy', the Government must be clear about the challenges ahead.

"We must also ensure that British troops have all the equipment and weaponry they require."

The attack in Afghanistan comes a day after the British general leading the Nato troops assumed command of multi-national forces in the lawless south of the country.

Lieutenant-General David Richards heads an 8,000-strong Nato force in the south made up largely of British, Canadian and Dutch troops, as well as some US personnel.

It is believed to be the first time since the Second World War that a UK general - or indeed any general from outside the US - has commanded units of American troops in combat operations.

Nato's mission is considered the most dangerous and challenging in the Western alliance's 57-year history.

It coincides with the deadliest upsurge in fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001, which has killed more than 800 people - mostly militants - since May.

The latest deaths bring the number of British soldiers who have been killed in Afghanistan in the past two months to nine.

Britain has around 7,000 troops in Iraq and nearly 4,000 soldiers deployed in Afghanistan. This figure is expected to rise to 4,500 by the autumn.

dailymail.co.uk
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The British control American troops in Afghanistan


Times Online July 31, 2006



American Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry (right), commander of coalition forces, and Lieutenant-General David Richards, British commander of Nato, leave after the official handover in Kandahar (Rodrigo Abd/Reuters)




Nato takes over mission to crush Taleban insurgency
By Jeremy Page, of The Times, from Kandahar




Nato launched the biggest combat mission of its 57-year history today when it took over an operation to quell a resurgence of Taleban, drug lords and al-Qaeda operatives in southern Afghanistan.

David Richards, the British Lieutenant-General leading the mission, also became the first Briton (and the first non-American) to command American troops in active combat since Field Marshal Montgomery in the Second World War.

Nato has conducted aerial bombing and peacekeeping operations in Bosnia and Kosovo — when US troops were also under British command — but that did not involve ground combat.

"It is hugely symbolically and practically important for Nato," said Lieutenant-General Richards, the head of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan.

"Are we up to it? I’m quite clear we are," he said. "I think in three to six months we can make a difference."

But he added later that Afghanistan would need the current level of military assistance for three to five years and some sort of foreign troop presence for up to 15 years.

Lieutenant-General Richards assumed command of the operation from the American Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry in a ceremony at an airbase in Kandahar, the former Taleban stronghold in southern Afghanistan.

Until today, ISAF’s 10,500 troops had operated only in the capital, Kabul, and the more stable north and west, where the central Government has established a degree of control.

Meanwhile, US-led coalition forces have been facing an increasingly fierce insurgency in the east and the lawless south, where much of the poppy crop in Afghanistan is grown.

That insurgency has escalated dramatically this year, claiming at least 1,700 lives since January, in the bloodiest violence in Afghanistan since the Taleban was toppled in late 2001.

Today eight people were killed by a bomb blast at a mosque apparently intended for a provincial governor in the eastern region of Nangarhar. More than 30 insurgents were killed in fighting in the south on Sunday.

ISAF, which now incorporates 37 different countries, will expand to 18,000 troops by October, with more than 10,000 deployed in the south in an attempt to bring the region under Kabul’s control.

Its strategy is to establish zones of stability, where "quick impact" development projects can be implemented to win over the local population and persuade them to stop cultivating poppies.

ISAF aims to secure one such "development zone" in each of the six southern provinces by the end of August, Lieutenant-General Richards said.

However, even he admitted that it was hard to know exactly what ISAF was up against.

"It’s a very complex picture," he said. "A lot of people who call themselves Taleban are not Taleban at all."

They were rather a combination of Taleban hardliners and foot soldiers, drug lords and their henchmen and tribal leaders pursuing their own agendas, he said.

He estimated that they numbered no more than a few thousand in the south and that the number of al-Qaeda operatives and other foreign fighters was minimal.

"Those few thousand who oppose the vast majority of the Afghan people and democratically elected Government should note this historic day and understand that they will not be allowed to succeed," he said at the ceremony today.

But other military and diplomatic sources attribute the sudden rise in the number of suicide bombings and improvised explosive devices this year to an influx of foreign militants, especially from Pakistan.

Many British troops are sceptical about the projected timeframe and intensity of the operation, given the fierce resistance encountered by the 4,000 British troops in the southern province of Helmand.

Among aid and development agencies, there are also grave concerns about launching reconstruction projects at the same time as undertaking such a huge combat operation.

"No doubt the security situation does restrict our ability to deliver development programmes," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan


thetimesonline.co.uk
 

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May 31, 2006
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There are Canadian, US, and soldiers from the coalition forces killed every day, what is so special about your post??