Yorks soldier killed

Jan 21 2008 by Neil Atkinson, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

A SOLDIER serving with the Yorkshire Regiment has been killed in a mine blast in Afghanistan.

And five other soldiers from the Regiment – which recruits extensively in Huddersfield – have been injured in the roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The soldier who died, a member of the 2nd Battalion of the Yorkshire Regiment, was fatally injured when the vehicle they were travelling in was hit by a mine strike near the town of Musa Qala yesterday.

He was pronounced dead at the scene. Next of kin have been informed.

The soldier was the second from the Yorkshire Regiment to be killed on active service in the Musa Qala area.

Sgt Lee Johnson died in a mine explosion in the trouble-torn town on December 8.

The five other British casualties were taken by helicopter to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) medical centre at Camp Bastion and Kandahar airfield.

No other details concerning their injuries were released.

All the service personnel involved were from the Yorkshire Regiment’s 2nd Battalion.

The company were engaged in operations around two miles north east of the southern town of Musa Qala at the time of the incident.

The Ministry of Defence said they were disrupting enemy forces and reassuring local Afghans when their vehicle was struck.

The Yorkshire Regiment was sent to Afghanistan last autumn and has played a vital role in tackling the Taliban.

The number of British military deaths in Afghanistan since the start of operations in November 2001 now stands at 87.

Musa Qala is strategically important as it commands much of the fertile flat land of northern Helmand and is close to key British-held strongholds in Sangin, Nowzad and Kajaki. However its importance is symbolic.

After heavy fighting last year Musa Qala was handed over to a council of tribal elders in a British-led initiative that was criticised by senior US commanders and politicians.

In February the Taliban re-took control of the town.

Musa Qala also sits astride key drug trafficking routes. Helmand province is the biggest opium producing area in Afghanistan. The number of Taliban fighters in the town is unknown, with estimates ranging from 200 up to 2,000.