Fourth British soldier killed in Afghanistan in a week

Published: 07 August 2006

Another British soldier was killed in Afghanistan yesterday, fuelling fresh fears about the deteriorating security situation and calls for more reinforcements.

Private Andrew Barrie Cutts was the fourth soldier to die in one mountainous enclave in the space of a week and the tragedy came as military chiefs warned that some troops are on the brink of exhaustion.

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British troops 'on the brink of exhaustion' in Afghanistan

What one commander called the "novel, harsh and unforgiving environment" is making the campaign in lawless Helmand province far harder than had been anticipated.

A total of ten British troops have now lost their lives in Helmand in the last eight weeks, although the main purpose of the mission was supposed to be reconstruction.

Operations were launched against the Taliban in May and the latest death yet again pointed up the emptiness of ex-defence secretary John Reid's hopes in April of a three-year mission "without a shot fired."

NATO said Private Cutts was shot as forces pushed into the mountainous district of Musa Qala in a drive to assert Afghan government control in a rebel stronghold.

Captain Alex Eida, 29, 2nd Lieutenant Ralph Johnson, 24, and Lance Corporal Ross Nicholls, 27, were killed in the same area last week when they drove into a carefully-orchestrated Taliban ambush.

NATO spokesman Mark Laity said the deadly fighting over the last week came amid deliberate operations against the insurgents.

The new fatality came as British soldiers - aided by RAF airpower - killed 14 Taliban and wounded six more in another battle in the Garmser district of Helmand.

In a statement, the Ministry of Defence said: "It is with regret that we can confirm that a member of the UK Armed Forces has been killed in action this afternoon during ongoing operations against insurgent positions in Helmand Province, Southern Afghanistan."

Officials said they were unable to give further details last night as the next of kin were being informed.

Military commanders are warning that British troops in Afghanistan are on the 'brink of exhaustion' as they wage relentless battles against the Taliban.

They fear that the current scale of operations being launched against insurgents in southern Afghanistan is 'unsustainable' without extra troops.

Military chiefs were yesterday reported to be asking for an extra 1,000-strong infantry battle group to boost the current 3,600 force.

Since May, British troops have waged 25 major battles in suffocating temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius. Around 700 troops are said to be bearing the brunt of the offensive.

One senior commander, who declined to be named, said: "The men are knackered - they are on the brink of exhaustion. They are under considerable duress and have suffered great hardship.

"This is a situation which is ultimately unsustainable. The shock of battle, the lack of sleep and back-to-back operations are beginning to impact on the troops.

"They are now close to what is realistically achievable - even for the Paras."

The death of another British serviceman has dealt another blow to Tony Blair's war on terror and increased calls on the Government to send urgent reinforcements out to the region.

Military experts warned that troops were in danger of being caught in a "Rorke's Drift" situation - a reference to the 1879 encounter when a British force of just over 100 defended a garrison in South Africa against more than 4,000 Zulu warriors.

Captain Greg Ehlen - who along with 30 other soldiers came under relentless attack from the Taliban for eight days without fresh supplies - was yesterday reported to have described the experience as akin to 'Zulu'.

And Major Charles Heyman, senior defence analyst at armed.forces.co.uk, added: "The tempo of operations is probably far, far too high at the moment.

"People have got to sleep, they have got to reorganise. You really really need more troops if you are to keep the tempo at that level."

He warned that two more fighting infantry battalions were needed in the country - a total of about 1200 men.

Major Heyman added: "They need three infantry battalions if they are going to maintain the tempo of operations. Even that isn't enough to impose security over the whole of Helmand."

He said that troops were based in "little outposts" far from the main British bases which had to be constantly reinforced and which were "sucking in the Taliban all the time".

Mr Heyman said: "There is a little bit of Rorke's Drift about this and if we are not very very careful we could have a disaster on our hands.

"This is a resourceful, well-trained enemy and they shouldn't be underestimated."

The Tories yesterday stepped up calls on ministers to send urgent reinforcements out to the Helmand province.

Tory homeland security spokesman Patrick Mercer said: "Why the Prime Minister is not giving the commanders in Afghanistan the troops they require is completely incomprehensible."

Since British troops were sent to Afghanistan in November 2001, a total of 17 soldiers have died on operations.

The Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup, the chief of defence staff, has warned the public to prepare for more casualties in the near future.

General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, yesterday told BBC News 24 that British troops were getting 'stuck in'.

He said: "We cannot afford to let that country go back to where it was, as a safe haven for international terrorism. That is simply unacceptable. We have to do this. We are doing it as part of an international force.

"The notion that somehow the Taliban in southern Afghanistan would not react to a much-increased international military presence seems to me to be very ill-founded indeed. They were bound to react and they have done."

On a visit to Afghanistan in April, Dr Reid outlined the UK mission in Helmand, saying: "We are in the south to help and protect the Afghan people construct their own democracy.

"We would be perfectly happy to leave in three years' time without firing a shot because our job is to protect the reconstruction."

Senior military officers last week admitted that British troops were operating in an 'unforgiving' environment in Helmand.

Captain Lieutenant Colonel Edward Smyth-Osbourne, who was paying tribute to 2nd Lieutenant Johnson, said: "In Afghanistan, he displayed real composure and huge professional competence in a novel, harsh and unforgiving environment."

Meanwhile, MPs will deliver yet another blow to Tony Blair's foreign policy this week by warning that cost-cutting and a lack of planning is putting the lives of British soldiers at risk.

The influential Commons defence select committee will be damning of the handling of the aftermath of the Iraq war by saying that the British deployment has been 'cost-led rather than needs-led."

It will highlight equipment shortages and failures - such as the inadequate armour on the 'Snatch' Land Rover which has led to the deaths of 18 soldiers from roadside bombs in Iraq.