A British soldier was killed in Helmand yesterday, hours after the head of the Army defended the military strategy in Afghanistan.

The death of Private Andrew Barrie Cutts brings the number of casualties among British forces in the province to ten in the past two months.

Since Nato took control of southern Afghanistan a week ago there have been nine fatalities, including four British soldiers.

The latest attack occurred in the district of Musa Qala, the northernmost of the British outposts in Helmand.

Private Cutts, of 13 Air Assault Support Regiment, was shot when Taleban fighters attacked a mission to re-supply an outpost in Musa Qala, which is in the same area where three other soldiers were killed on Tuesday.

Captain Drew Gibson, British military spokesman in Afghanistan, said that the re-supply mission itself, which involved hundreds of troops backed by helicopters, was successful.

In the encounter with insurgents, he said "quite a few" Taleban were killed, although there were no exact details. The re-supply mission during which Private Cutts died was part of the wider Operation Snakebite, launched yesterday by British forces in the area.

The Ministry of Defence said in a statement: "The immediate aim of the operation was to disrupt Taleban command and control in Musa Qala, along with their ambush sites and logistics operations.

"Our short-term aim is to dominate the Musa Qala area. In the longer term we seek to create conditions that will enable the Afghan National Army and Police to assume increased responsibility for the towns’ security."

Al-Haj Muhiaddan, spokesman for Helmand’s Governor, said: "I cannot deny that most of Musa Qala is under the control of the Taleban. It is a crossroads and a route for smugglers. . . . Today’s operation was to stop the Taleban and drug smugglers."

General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, responded yesterday to growing criticism of the British operation in Afghanistan, saying it was vital to prevent the country becoming a safe haven for international terrorists again and that British forces were "getting stuck in" to the Taleban.

But a senior officer told the Sunday Telegraph that British soldiers in the country were "on the brink of exhaustion".

"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," the officer said.

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

The newspaper reported that 700 troops were bearing the brunt of heavy fighting against the Taliban, with 25 major battles fought since May, in temperatures of up to 50C.

Commanders reportedly wanted the 3,600-strong force to be supplemented by another 1,000-strong infantry battle group, over and above the extra 900 soldiers recently committed.

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

Major Charles Heyman a military expert, warned that many British soldiers were stuck in outposts far from the main British bases, where they faced fierce battles against a determined enemy.

"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," he said.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: "The operation in Helmand is a difficult one and was planned for on that basis.

"As the Chief of Defence Staff has said, the force package and troop numbers are those requested by commanders on the ground. We keep all our operational requirements across the world under constant review."

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