The soldier from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles died during a patrol on Saturday in insurgency-hit Helmand province, said Lieutenant Colonel David Eastman, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand.

"The soldier was patrolling within the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province, as part of the ongoing mission to protect and reassure the local population, when he was struck by an explosion," Eastman said.

Britain has nearly 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the second largest contingent after the United States, with most of them deployed in Helmand, a centre for the Taliban insurgency and for the opium trade.

earlier related report
Three NATO soldiers die in Afghan south
Kabul (AFP) Oct 1, 2010 - Three international soldiers, two of them Romanian, died Friday in volatile southern Afghanistan, officials said, while an air strike killed 15 militants in the northeast near the Pakistan border.

The two Romanian soldiers were killed and a third wounded in a landmine explosion in the province of Zabul, the Ministry of Defence said in Bucharest.

The latest casualties bring to 17 the number of Romanian military personnel killed in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban.

A total of 1,663 Romanian troops are currently deployed in the war-torn country, most of them as part of NATO's International security Assistance force (ISAF).

It was unclear how the third foreign soldier died, ISAF saying it was "as a result of a non-battle injury". That could mean an accident or suicide.

The alliance did not release the nationality of the soldier.

The three deaths took to 550 the number of foreign troops killed in the war so far this year -- the deadliest on record.

Washington and its NATO allies have increased the number of foreign troops fighting the nine-year Taliban insurgency to more than 152,000.

US-led troops have stepped up attacks on insurgents since the spring under a new war strategy which aims to root out Taliban militants before drawing down the military presence next year.

NATO said it called in air strikes in the northeastern province of Kunar on the Pakistani border, killing 15 insurgents "setting up what has been known as a historical attack position".

Afghan leaders have criticised air strikes on the grounds that they can result in collateral damage, but NATO said no civilians were killed.

ISAF claimed its troops killed up to 114 insurgents in September -- exactly twice the number of ISAF troops who died in the same time period.

It also claimed to have captured or killed more than 105 Haqqani network and Taliban leaders, including shadow governors and weapons facilitators.

The Haqqani network was created by Afghan warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani and run today by his son Sirajuddin. With its leadership based in Pakistan's North Waziristan district, the group is one of the toughest foes the US faces in Afghanistan.

Police in the southern province of Ghazni said two Afghan civilians and two policemen were killed in crossfire with insurgents.

Thursday's gunfight was part of almost daily violence plaguing southern and eastern Afghanistan, where the Taliban have concentrated their insurgency since being removed from power.

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