British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan Saturday, meeting troops a day after four British Royal Marines were killed in action in the country's violence-ravaged southern Helmand province, CNN reported.
Brown shook hands with men and women in camouflage uniforms at Camp Bastion in Helmand, telling them to "keep up the good work" and thanking them "for everything you're doing."
British defense officials earlier said one British marine died of injuries he sustained in an explosion Friday in the eastern Sangin area of Helmand. He had been taking part in a routine patrol and died on the way to a military hospital.
A separate explosion in Sangin on Friday killed three other marines as they were conducting a "routine operation against enemy forces," the ministry said. One died instantly and the two others died of their wounds.
"Today is an incredibly sad day for Task Force Helmand," Commander Paula Rowe, the task force spokeswoman, said in a statement. "The tragic deaths of these Royal Marines have come as a huge blow to us all.
Losing a loved one is one of the hardest things to go through. Our heartfelt sympathies go out to their families, friends and comrades at this terrible time."
A spokesman for the Taliban gave a differing account of the explosions.
Spokesman Qari Yousef told CNN that Abdul Basid, 26, blew himself up in the Char Khak area of Sangin and killed eight Canadian soldiers who were on foot patrol helping the British forces. He said the soldiers that were killed were not British.
In the other attack in Sangin, Yousef said the Taliban used an improvised bomb and killed five British soldiers at a bazaar.