Posted on 08/07/2006 1:31:34 AM PDT by familyop
LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier killed in an operation against Taliban guerrillas in southern Afghanistan was named on Monday as Private Andrew Barrie Cutts.
He was killed on Sunday during a pre-planned operation against insurgents in Musa Qualeh in Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said.
The latest death brings the number of NATO soldiers killed since it took over the south from the United States to eight.
Seventeen British forces personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since November, 2001, five not in combat.
Defence Secretary Des Browne paid tribute to Cutts, from the Royal Logistic Corp based in Colchester, Essex.
"This is a huge loss for his friends and family. My thoughts are with them," Browne said.
"UK Forces are making a vital contribution to bringing security to the people of Afghanistan. Today's tragic incident underlines the challenges they face in carrying out this important task."
Helmand is Afghanistan's main drug producing area, where at least nine British soldiers have been killed in militant attacks since May as NATO built up to the takeover.
Afghan officials said 13 Taliban insurgents were killed in another area of Helmand on Saturday night.
Earlier on Sunday, a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a convoy of NATO forces in neighbouring Kandahar, wounding a soldier.
Afghanistan is going through the bloodiest phase of violence since U.S.-led coalition forces overthrew the Taliban government in 2001, with most Taliban attacks occurring on a daily basis in the south in recent months.
The expansion of NATO into the south is the biggest ground operation by NATO in its history and is aimed at allowing the U.S. to cut the size of its force to 20,000 from 23,000.
Almost 80 foreign soldiers, hundreds of militants and Afghan forces, scores of civilians and dozens of aid workers have been killed in attacks by Taliban and drug barons and operations by foreign forces mostly in southern and eastern areas this year.
Kipling
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