A BRITISH paratrooper was killed yesterday as his unit struggled to lift what amounted to a siege of their base in the heart of Taleban country in southern Afghanistan.

He was the sixth soldier to die in just over three weeks in the Sangin Valley, Helmand province. The fighting raged for hours and was so fierce that reinforcements from 3 Para, arriving by Chinook helicopter, had to be turned back because of intense gunfire.

Apache attack helicopters were called in to suppress the attack. Daily patrols in the town of Sangin have entailed regular ambushes and gunfights for members of the 200-strong unit from the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment battle group. The platoon house, a fortified building in the centre of town, is vulnerable because of its position.

The soldier was part of a patrol that came under fire from rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. Sangin, by the fertile Helmand river, is made up of mud-walled compounds, poppy fields and orchards, ideal cover for ambushes. The last two soldiers to die before yesterday were killed in an assault on their platoon house. Because of their isolation, the British troops at Sangin have first call on the roving quick-reaction force.

A military source described the whole area as “Taleban central” and said all the British bases were coming under daily attack. Apart from the six Apaches, the 3,300-strong British battle group in Helmand has only six Chinook helicopters and four Lynxes between them to cover a province four times the size of Wales.

Yesterday’s death came after the killing on Saturday of Corporal Peter Thorpe, 27, of the Royal Signals, and Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi, 24, of the Intelligence Corps, in an attack on the Sangin base.

Yesterday’s ambush happened a few hours after Tony Blair repeated his pledge that the British force would be given whatever it needed to carry out its mission.

Corporal Chris Crabtree, 36, who has been in 3 Para since 1999, told The Times: “We are here to do a job — it’s a dangerous place. You can’t expect to get a mission and not lose people.”

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