A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan while taking part in one of the UK military's biggest co-ordinated air operations of modern times, the Ministry of Defence said.
The soldier from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards is the third to be killed in southern Afghanistan this weekend and his death takes the number of UK service personnel killed in the country since the start of operations in October 2001 to 174. Next of kin has been informed.
He was killed while on foot and taking part in a "deliberate operation" near Gereshk, in central Helmand, southern Afghanistan, as part of Operation Panthers Claw, which was launched to drive the Taliban out of strongholds in and around Babaji, north of Lashkar Gah, Helmand.
A soldier from the 2nd Battalion The Mercian Regiment was killed by a rocket propelled grenade attack and a soldier from The Light Dragoons was killed by a contact explosion while taking part in the same operation near Gereshk in central Helmand on Saturday, the MoD said.
Lt Col Richardson said: "The loss of these soldiers, and colleagues, has come as a huge blow to us all.
"But it is the family, friends and loved ones, as well as the men and women who served alongside them, who feel the greatest pain and we offer them our deepest and heartfelt condolences, thoughts and prayers and take consolation from the fact that their deaths are not in vain."
