NATO-led forces suffer more casualties as a British soldier is confirmed killed in an explosion in southwest Afghanistan, bringing to nearly 100 the number of UK troops killed this year, Press TV reported.
"It is my sad duty to confirm that a soldier from 1st Battalion, Coldstream Guards, was killed this morning by an explosion in the Babaji area of Helmand Province," said Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield on Monday.
He was the 99th British soldier to die in Afghanistan this year. The death brings to 236 the total number of British troops who have been killed in Afghanistan since the start of the US-led invasion in October 2001.
The news comes a few hours after British Premier Gordon Brown announced the country would send 500 additional troops to Afghanistan, bringing to 9,500 the number of the UK forces in the war-torn country.
Brown faces plunging popularity at home over the deployment of British forces to Afghanistan. An increasing majority of Britons want the country's troops out of Afghanistan within a year, according to the latest opinion polls.