THE 50th British soldier to be killed by the enemy in Iraq died in a roadside bomb explosion yesterday.

It was the second death of a British soldier from an improvised explosive device in four weeks, underlining the continuing threat to troops, despite the reduction in attacks since elections in Iraq in January.

The attack yesterday was in Kahla, near al-Amarah, a town that has always been the most volatile location for British troops. Fierce fighting took place there last summer between British soldiers and rebels.

The latest victim, who had yet to be identified last night, was in an armoured Land Rover, one of three vehicles heading to a liaison meeting with representatives of the Iraqi security forces, whom the British troops are training in southern Iraq. Four other soldiers were injured in the explosion. The Ministry of Defence said that they were being treated in hospital. No details were given about the seriousness of their wounds, although they were not believed to be life-threatening.

The British military have deployed detection systems to try to pinpoint roadside bombs, but defence sources said that it was clear that they were not foolproof. Fourteen British soldiers have died as a result of improvised explosive devices detonating at the side of roads in southern Iraq.

The death yesterday brings the total number of British fatalities since Operation Telic was bagun in early 2003 to 88, of whom 38 have died from traffic accidents, natural causes and other incidents not involving hostile action.

The explosion, at about 9am, was aimed at troops from 12 Mechanised Brigade, which recently has taken over command of the British area in the south from 4 Armoured Brigade. It includes The King’s Royal Hussars and The Staffordshire Regiment. The soldier who died from a similar roadside bomb four weeks ago, on May 2, was Guardsman Anthony Wakefield, 24, of the 1st Battalion Coldstream Guards. That incident was also in the al-Amarah area, which is in the Maysan province, about 160 miles north of Basra.

American forces lost more than 1,600 soldiers and Marines since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, but they are based in the Sunni insurgency strongholds in central, western and northern Iraq and have faced far more hostility than the British troops, who are operating in the south, which is populated mostly by Shia communities who have been friendly to the coalition forces. However, al-Amarah has a mixed population and it has spawned some of the worst attacks on British forces over the past two years.

British troops on liaison missions and patrols normally travel in armoured “snatch” Land Rovers. They are the workhorse vehicles for troops on the move.

WAR CASUALTIES

• Iraq war and aftermath: 1 in 523 soldiers (88 casualties, 46,000 troops deployed at height)
  
  
• War in Afghanistan and aftermath: 1 in 1,700 soldiers (1 casualty, 1,700 troops deployed)
  
  
• First Gulf War: 1 in 915 soldiers (47 casualties, 43,000 troops deployed)
  
  
• Balkans: 1 in 1,000 soldiers (13 casualties, 13,000 troops deployed)
  
  
• Falklands: 1 in 118 soldiers (255 casualties, 30,000 troops deployed)
  
  
• First World War: 1 in 10 soldiers (908,371 casualties, 8,904,467 troops deployed)

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