British soldier killed in Afghanistan

A British soldier from 3rd Battalion the Rifles has been killed in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today. The MoD said the soldier's next of kin had been informed. His death, which brings the total of British fatalities in Afghanistan to 268 since the conflict began, was not connected to Operation Moshtarak, an offensive against the Taliban. The ministry said the soldier had been killed at a vehicle checkpoint in southern Afghanistan. The serviceman was the second member of UK forces to be shot dead near Sangin, in the north of Helmand province, in two days. He died after coming under fire while part of a team partnering Afghan soldiers at the checkpoint. Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "It is my sad duty to inform you that a British soldier... was killed by small arms fire in Sangin, northern Helmand. "He was part of a team from 3 Rifle partnering Afghan national army soldiers at a vehicle checkpoint to the south-east of Sangin district centre when the checkpoint was fired on. "He died protecting the people of Sangin. He will be sorely missed by us, his comrades – we will remember him." The MoD yesterday said a soldier from A Company, 4th Battalion the Rifles, had died as a result of small arms fire near Sangin. In other developments, an Afghan intelligence official blamed the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba for last week's car bomb and suicide attacks that killed 16 people in the heart of the capital, Kabul. The Afghan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. Lashkar-e-Taiba is the same group India blames for the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in which 166 people were killed, bringing further tension to relations between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Saeed Ansari, a spokesman for Afghanistan's national directorate of security, said his agency had evidence that Pakistanis were involved in the attacks on Kabul guesthouses frequented by Indians and other foreigners. Six Indians were among the dead.