A British soldier has been killed by an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the third to die in the region in three days, the Ministry of Defence said Wednesday, AFP reported.
The soldier from The Parachute Regiment was killed Tuesday "as a result of a suspected improvised explosive device (IED)" while on foot patrol south of Sangin in Helmand Province, the ministry said in a statement.
He was the third British soldier to be killed in southern Afghanistan since Sunday, and brings the death toll since the US-led invasion in October 2001 to 243, with 106 killed since the beginning of this year.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown's government recently announced a 150-million-pound (240-million-dollar, 168-million-euro) programme to combat the threat of IEDs, which cause the vast majority of British troop deaths.
British soldier killed in Afghanistan explosion
