In the most devastating day for British ground troops in Afghanistan, the death toll rose above the 179 killed in the six-year Iraq campaign.

The Ministry of Defence announced the deaths of eight more soldiers. Six were killed in three blasts yesterday, the seventh by a bomb on Thursday. The eighth was shot dead. Next of kin have been informed.

It is the worst loss of ground troops in Afghanistan in a 24-hour period. In all, 184 have been killed to date, all but five of them since the Helmand operation began in 2006. Fifteen have died in the past ten days.

Gordon Brown, who was in Italy for the G8 summit, said that the troops faced “a very hard summer” but that there was no question of Britain pulling out until the international community had finished its mission.

The average age of those killed in Operation Herrick — the codename for the campaign that began in 2001 but only developed into a full-scale military operation in 2006 — is 27. Four out of ten were under 25.

At least 88 were killed by improvised explosive devices and suicide bombers. Injuries have been rising, with at least 200 wounded in battle this year.

Operation Panther’s Claw was launched three weeks ago to clear central Helmand of Taleban insurgents before presidential elections. Three British battle groups with a total of 3,000 soldiers are engaged in the offensive.

Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, the former Chief of the Defence Staff, told The Times that an extra 2,000 troops requested by the military but rejected by the Government would have made a difference in the current fighting.

Sir Jock Stirrup, the present head of defence staff, said that it was important to “remember why our people are fighting and what they are achieving through their sacrifice and courage”.

Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of the Task Force in Helmand, said the deaths made troops more determined to succeed. “Morale is high and that’s because, hour by hour and day by day, they can feel they are winning.”

Bob Ainsworth, the Defence Secretary, told ITV News: “They know that they have to take risks, they take that risk on our behalf, they’ve been making progress. Sadly we’ve had some people killed, some brave people and we must never forget them.”

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