A SOLDIER serving with the Yorkshire Regiment has been killed in southern Afghanistan.

The soldier from the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment died alongside three soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment.

They were killed in a road accident on Wednesday evening near Gereshk in Helmand Province.

Next of kin have been informed but their names have not yet been released.

Task Force Helmand spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith said: “They were part of a team that was travelling to assist in an incident at a nearby checkpoint when they were killed in a vehicle incident.

“They will be sorely missed and their actions will not be forgotten. We will remember them.”

The soldiers, part of a police advisory team, were travelling in a Ridgeback armoured vehicle which rolled off the road and ended up under water.

Enemy action is not thought to have been involved, the Ministry of Defence said.

The deaths took the number of UK troops who have died since operations in Afghanistan began in 2001 to 307.

This includes 18 so far this month – nine in the past seven days alone.

On February 1 this year Lance Corporal Shaw, 27, of Golcar, was killed in the roadside explosion in Afghanistan.

He was serving with the 3rd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment.