The grim milestone of 300 British dead on operations in Iraq and Afghanistan was reached yesterday when two Royal Marines were killed in an explosion

300 dead, Afghanistan and Iraq, Royal Marines, Helmand, bomb, Jackal

After seven years of campaigning the British have now lost 176 dead in Iraq and 124 in Afghanistan.

The news comes at a time when a poll for the BBC showed that 68 per cent of the public apparently want to see British troops withdrawn from Afghanistan within a year.

But US president-elect Barack Obama will order a surge of US troops next year to coincide with a major reduction of the force in Iraq. There has also been pressure on the British government to similarly reinforce southern Afghanistan when the 4,000 troops pull out of Basra early next year.

During a patrol outside the town of Garmsir on Wednesday a substantial blast ripped through the protected underside of a Jackal off-road vehicle causing fatal injuries to two commandos.

They were operating as part of the Information Exploitation Group which is responsible for gathering human intelligence and promoting the British presence in Helmand.

It is the second time the recently-deployed Jackal has suffered fatalities leading to fears that the Taliban have developed technology to target the reasonably well-protected £130,000 vehicle.

It was not immediately clear whether the device was a roadside bomb or a landmine that killed the men who were part of the UK Landing Force Command Support Group, the Ministry of Defence said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: "These most recent sacrifices demonstrate how important our role is in Afghanistan, fighting terrorism and helping to bring security and stability to the country.

"It is vital to our own interests here in the UK that we continue with this and we will not allow their sacrifice to be in vain."

News of the two deaths came as the Afghan president Hamid Karzai met Gordon Brown for talks in Downing Street. President Karzai praised the work of British troops and expressed his "condolences" over the deaths when he met Mr Brown in London during the morning.

The leaders also discussed the strategic situation in the region, with economic problems and unrest growing in neighbouring Pakistan.

Number 10 stressed that the talks had focused on how the UK's support operations in Afghanistan could be enhanced, rather than the possibility of more troops being sent.

When it was put to the PM's spokesman that extra forces were set to be deployed, he responded: "I don't agree with the assertion that we now look like we are sending more troops."

The Downing Street spokesman also rejected suggestions that the British public was not behind the campaign. A poll for BBC Radio 4 found 68 per cent believed all British troops should be withdrawn from the troubled country in the next year.

Research carried out by Mori for the MoD has indicated more than half the population supported the military presence in Afghanistan.

But the father of Sgt Ben Knight, who died in a Nimrod plane over Afghanistan, said the war was "unwinnable".

"It is just so sad that so many young lives are being lost in a conflict that seems to have lost its way," said Graham Knight.

"The Russians were there for nine years and ended up having to go out of the country because it just wasn't winnable.

"I think the same will happen to us - I don't think it's winnable."

by Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent

Source >  Telegraph | nov 13

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