UK soldier killed in Afghanistan

15 October 2011 Last updated at 18:08 ET

A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan’s Helmand province.

The soldier, from the 2nd Battalion, The Royal Gurkha Rifles, has not yet been named but his next of kin have been informed.

Taskforce Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gordon Mackenzie said the soldier received a fatal gunshot wound while protecting a checkpoint.

The incident in Nahr-e Saraj takes to 383 the number of British forces killed in Afghanistan in the last 10 years.

Lt Col Mackenzie said: “The thoughts and prayers of all those serving in Helmand are with his family at this very difficult time.”

It was the first fatality in Afghanistan for almost a month. On 19 September David Fairbrother, a 24-year-old Royal Marine, from Blackburn, Lancashire, who was shot dead after his patrol was ambushed.

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