Soldier dies of Afghanistan blast injuries

A soldier has died from wounds he suffered in an explosion in Afghanistan last month, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said today.

The soldier, from 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, serving as part of the Household Cavalry Regiment Battle Group, died in the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine at Selly Oak in Birmingham last night, a spokeswoman said.

He was injured in the blast in the Musa Qala district of Helmand Province on the morning of February 21. Next of kin have been informed.

The spokeswoman said the death was not connected to Operation Moshtarak, the recent drive against the Taliban.

Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "It is with sadness I must inform you that one of our comrades succumbed to his wounds last night in Selly Oak Hospital."

He said the blast happened while the soldier was on patrol to the north of Musa Qala District Centre, "part of the ongoing successful operations in the Musa Qala area to drive the insurgents away from the local people and away from the District Centre".

He added: "He was one of us, one of our own, who fell doing his duty. We will remember him."

The death takes the number of British military fatalities in Afghanistan to 273 since operations began there in 2001.