A BRITISH soldier from Prince Harry's regiment has been killed in Afghanistan.
Three others were injured when their vehicle struck a landmine in Afghanistan on Friday. The four soldiers were all part of the Household Cavalry Regiment, the division the Prince served in during his 10 weeks in Afghanistan earlier this year.
A t
otal of 95 British soldiers have now died since the Taliban were overthrown in 2001.
The soldier, Trooper Ratu Babakobau, 29, from Fiji, was pronounced dead on arrival at Camp Bastion, a nearby British military base.
The Ministry of Defence is yet to release the names of the other soldiers involved. An Afghan translator working with the British Army was also injured.
The soldiers were out on a routine patrol in the Nowzad area of northern Helmand province, where Prince Harry was stationed less than three months ago.
On February 29 orders were given for him to leave his post in Afghanistan early after a media blackout regarding his deployment was broken by an Australian magazine. The prince was said to have been removed from the front line immediately. He arrived back in Britain the next day. Earlier plans for Prince Harry to serve in Iraq had been scrapped over fears it would cause immense security problems and put other soldiers at unnecessary risk.
It is estimated that there are roughly 6,000 UK soldiers currently serving in Afghanistan. Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said this could be increased to more than 7,000 before the end of the summer.
British soldiers have the second highest death toll for any country in the coalition forces in Afghanistan. The United States has lost 496 soldiers there, out of a total of 803 coalition soldiers killed in action.
Of the 95 British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001, 69 were killed in action or died of combat wounds while the remainder died from illness, accidents, non-combat injuries or their cause of death has not yet been formally classified.
Although Friday's explosion happened on the outskirts of an area known to be Taliban controlled, it is also possible that the mine was left over from the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. The Cold War Soviet occupation lasted for just under 10 years, beginning in December 1979 and ending in February 1989.
Last week Prince William made a secret visit to UK troops at the Kandahar airfield in Afghanistan. Prince William, also known as Flying Officer Wales to his fellow RAF trainees, had his pilots wings presented to him by his father Prince Charles last month. It was reported that he flew the military transport plane part of the journey from the UK to Afghanistan.
War vets helpCOMMUNITIES minister Stewart Maxwell is to set up a new fund to support ex-servicemen and women.
Maxwell will unveil plans to create the Scottish Veterans' Fund next week.
The Scottish Government has never previously provided dedicated funding for veterans' issues north of the border.
And while most of the areas that affect former armed forces personnel are handled by Westminster, the Scottish Government does have responsibility for veterans in housing, health and social care, education, employability and social inclusion.
Maxwell said: "It is the responsibility of us all to ensure we do all we can to ensure that the veterans' community receives the level and quality of services that it deserves."
The full article contains 568 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
