Afghan death toll passes that of Falklands War

The death of a soldier in Afghanistan yesterday took the number of fatalities in the conflict to 256, meaning more British service personnel have died in action in Afghanistan than during the 1982 Falklands war.

The soldier from 36 Engineer Regiment, part of the counter-IED Task Force, was killed by an explosion in the Nad-e-Ali district, in central Helmand. It follows the death of two soldiers in Helmand Province on Sunday, who were from the Royal Scots Borderers, 1st Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland. They were killed by an explosion in Sangin on Sunday night while on foot patrol. The families of all three soldiers have been informed.

The Falklands War lasted 70 days. Along with the British fatalities, 655 Argentinians and three Falkland Islanders were also killed. Simon Weston, of the Welsh Guards, who suffered severe burns in the war when the ship Sir Galahad was bombed, said last night: "The Falklands was a more conventional conflict: it was two armies wearing uniforms ... The Argentines acted as we did, in an honourable way. In Afghanistan our boys and girls are fighting people using guerilla tactics ... But both forms of war bring the same level of despair for the soldier."