Soldier dies in Afghanistan blast

12 April 2012

A British soldier has died in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said.

The serviceman, from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, was killed while on a routine patrol near Kajaki in Helmand province on Saturday.

He is the second soldier from the regiment to die in Afghanistan within the last 48 hours.

It brings the number of British service personnel killed in the country since operations began in October 2001 to 120.

Lieutenant Colonel David Reynolds, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said of the latest casualty: "The life of a British paratrooper can never be replaced, but it can be immortalised.

"His participation in this tour of Helmand will be remembered in regimental history as a tribute to his courage and as an honour to his family."

Next-of-kin have been informed.

The latest incident comes after the death of Private Jason Lee Rawstron, also from 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, on Friday.

The 23-year-old, from Clayton-Le-Moors, Lancashire, was killed during a firefight with Taliban forces in Helmand Province.

On Saturday his mother Mandy described Pte Rawstron as "a perfect son" and a "role model".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Sign up you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy notice .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in