Defence chiefs are drawing up plans to reinforce hard-pressed British troops in Sangin, an area they describe as one of the most dangerous in Afghanistan.
The announcement came after a Royal Marine from 40 Commando was killed on Sunday by an explosion near Patrol Base Blenheim, one of 30 bases and checkpoints manned by British forces in Sangin. The soldier was named last night as Corporal Christopher Harrison, 26, from Taunton, Somerset. It was his second posting to southern Afghanistan.
The Sangin valley is an important communications crossroads and commercial area of Helmand province. It is an opium poppy growing area and a centre of the narcotics trade.
Of the 40 British troops killed this year in Afghanistan, nearly half were patrolling in the Sangin district. 3 Rifles, whose battlegroup was based in Sangin, lost an unprecedented 30 men during a six-month Afghan tour which has just ended.
Troops there are vulnerable to increasingly accurate small arms fire by Taliban-supporting fighters as well improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. Royal Marines from 40 Commando were also approached last month by a suicide bomber aged between 12 and 14. The boy killed himself, and a Marine and an interpreter suffered minor injuries.
View Larger Map
By: Brant
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment