THE British soldier who died in a gunfight with the Taleban on Sunday, named yesterday as Corporal Bryan Budd, was trained as a member of the elite Pathfinders, paratroopers involved in long-range covert reconnaissance missions.

Corporal Budd, 29, died in Sangin, one of five northern outposts set up by British troops in Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. Twenty-five members of the Pathfinder Platoon last month had to be extracted from the outpost at Musa Qala after spending eight weeks under Taleban fire. They were running out of food and water when they were rescued.

Corporal Budd qualified as a Pathfinder after passing the rigorous selection process, and served in the specialist platoon in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sierra Leone and the Balkans.

However, when he was killed, he was serving with the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment. He was on a routine patrol close to the district centre in Sangin, where the paratroopers are based in a so-called platoon house. The district centre base has been subjected to sustained assaults by the Taleban for the past two months.

Corporal Budd, who was the eleventh British soldier to be killed in combat with the Taleban in Helmand province since early June, had been in the Army for ten years. He was on the point of being promoted to platoon sergeant.

An experienced and highly regarded soldier, he was married and had a daughter, Isabelle. He and his wife, Lorena, were looking forward to the birth of their second child in September. Their home is in Ripon, North Yorkshire.

He deployed to Helmand province in June, serving with A Company 3 Para, which has been engaged in numerous battles with the Taleban in most of the outposts in the north of the province: Sangin, Musa Qala, Nowzad, Gereskh and Kajaki.

Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Tootal, his commanding officer, said: “Corporal Bryan Budd was an outstanding young man who had quickly risen through the ranks in the regiment. Extremely popular, he had a calm and professional manner that inspired confidence in all who worked with him; a natural leader.”

He added: “Bryan was proud to call himself a paratrooper and we were proud to stand beside him.”

Last week Warrant Officer 1 John Hardy, the regimental sergeant-major of 3 Para, told The Times: “My blokes are fantastic and they are a lot wiser now after all the incidents.”

Corporal Budd’s identity was disclosed as more details emerged of a comprehensive defeat of the Taleban in neighbouring Kandahar province, when Canadian soldiers, backed up troops of the Afghan National Army and Afghan police, set a trap for the insurgents. At least 71 Taleban fighters were killed.

The battle between the Canadian Nato troops and the Taleban, which lasted for about nine hours and involved artillery and air power as well infantry attacks, was for control of the vital Highway 1, the only road that goes all the way around Afghanistan. The confrontation led to the highest Taleban toll since Nato troops began arriving in Helmand earlier this year.

The battle took place in Panjwayi district in Kandahar province. The Canadian troops from the Royal Canadian Regiment were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Omer Lavoie, less than three hours after he had taken over responsibility for Canada’s local battle group.

There were no Canadian casualties, but four Afghan police officers and one soldier from the Afghan National Army were killed. Three police and five Afghan soldiers were also wounded. Three other police were missing.

Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, described as a spokesman for the Taleban, claimed to have killed scores of police and damaged ten police vehicles.

In other action in southern Afghanistan, a roadside bomb hit a police vehicle in Helmand province, killing three policemen, a provincial government spokesman said yesterday. Another remote-controlled bomb exploded in Zabul province at the weekend but did not cause any casualties.

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