TALEBAN insurgents killed three British Nato soldiers in an ambush in the southern Afghan province of Helmand yesterday, just a day after the alliance took over operations in the country’s lawless region.

Two of the soldiers were from the Household Cavalry and the third was serving with 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery. Captain Jim Philippson, from the same regiment, was killed in June.

The incident, coupled with the loss of another British soldier killed in Iraq, was the biggest loss of life suffered by British troops in a single day since May 7, when a Lynx helicopter with five on board was shot down over Basra. A total of 16 British soldiers have now died in Afghanistan — nine of them since the deployment in April of 3,500 British troops to Helmand, the country’s main opium producing region.

The ambush yesterday happened at about 7.30am local time as British forces launched an assault against the Taleban that included Apache helicopters and Harrier jets, military officials said. They were attacked while engaged in a large-scale operation to relieve a group of paratroopers who had faced daily attacks.

However, at the start of the operation, two British army vehicles, a Spartan and a Scimitar, both reconnaissance vehicles with enhanced armour, were hit by the Taleban. The Spartan, containing the three soldiers who died, was blown up and the Scimitar severely damaged. A fourth soldier was seriously wounded and taken to a military hospital. His condition was described as critical.

British forces returned fire and killed several Taleban during a prolonged gunfight, although casualties on their side have yet to be confirmed. Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said: “On every occasion that we’ve come up against the Taleban, we’ve defeated him and we will continue to do so.”

The attack was nonetheless another blow to the morale of British troops, who were led to understand that they were on a peacekeeping mission when they first arrived in Helmand.

“Of course it’s a blow,” said one Kandahar-based captain, who declined to be identified. “You remember when the Defence Secretary (John Reid) said we’d be here for two years and might not have to fire a shot. Now look at us.” It also highlighted the huge task of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), which took over military operations in southern Afghanistan on Monday.

Isaf’s 10,500 troops had previously operated only in the capital, Kabul, and the relatively stable north and west of the country, while US-led coalition forces had been fighting the insurgency in the south and east.

The soldier killed in Basra, the first to die from a mortar attack on one of the British bases in Basra, was named last night as Corporal Matthew Cornish, 29. He had served in Iraq on two other occasions.

Lieutenant-Colonel Johnny Bowron, commanding officer of the 1st Battalion The Light Infantry, said: “Matthew was a great soldier, a fine friend and a marvellous husband and father.”

Corporal Cornish leaves a wife, Abbey, 28, and children Ethan, 3, and one-year-old Libby. Robin Cornish, 60, his father, said: “I have spoken to Abbey and the poor girl is devastated. He lived for his family.”

His death brings the total number who have died in Iraq since Operation Telic began in early 2003 to 115, of whom 86 have been killed as a result of hostile fire.

The mortar attack occurred before dawn. Corporal Cornish was evacuated by helicopter to the British military hospital at Shaibah, south of Basra, where he died. The attack started off another bloody day in Iraq, with almost 60 people killed, including an American soldier hit by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad and 23 Iraqi soldiers.

The Iraqi soldiers died, and another 20 were wounded, when their bus was blown apart by a bomb planted by the road from Baghdad to Mosul.

Another dozen people were killed when a suicide bomber rammed his car into policemen and soldiers waiting outside a Baghdad bank to collect their pay. Four electricity workers were also killed when their minibus was hit by gunfire.

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