THERE was alarm among MPs yesterday at the spiral of violence in southern Afghanistan, which has led to the first combat death of a British soldier in Helmand province, after four major attacks on Britain’s troops in three weeks.

The soldier was not identified by the Ministry of Defence. He was serving with 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery and was part of a quick-reaction force that had driven up from the British base at Camp Bastion in armoured Land Rovers to rescue a patrol that had come under fire in Sangin, in the northeast of the province. Two soldiers had been seriously wounded and needed to be evacuated.

The force was attacked as it arrived in the Sangin district, and the soldier died when Taleban fighters opened fire on those attempting to remove the two wounded men. The Taleban were armed with rocket-propelled grenades and Kalashnikovs. The British troops had to withdraw under fire, supported by Apache attack helicopters. Several Taleban were believed to have been killed.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, who is in Afghanistan, sent his sympathies to the families of the dead soldier and the two injured, but said that Afghanistan should not be allowed to become once again “a haven for terrorism”.

This month there have been two exchanges of fire between British troops and the Taleban. On June 4, in Nauzad, there was a six-hour fight in which 21 Taleban were killed. Yesterday Afghan and US-led forces killed 27 Taleban fighters, also in southern Afghanistan.

The 3,300-strong British force in Helmand province is now setting up operating bases where the former Kabul rulers are trying to establish “shadow” administrations. This has inevitably provoked the Taleban into targeting the British.

“The Brits are out and about, the Paras [of 16 Air Assault Brigade in Helmand] are not just sitting around, they are making it clear to the Taleban that they are not going to let them take charge of Helmand,” one Nato source said.

Liam Fox, Shadow Defence Secretary, said: “This mission is turning out to be far more dangerous than the public and backbenchers had been led to believe just a few weeks ago. The question now is, do we have sufficient forces to deal with what are going to be some savage attacks by the Taleban.”

Lord Garden, a Lib Dem peer and former assistant chief of defence staff, said: “We thought Afghanistan was going to be a model for Iraq . . . now we’re back in with more troops but spread thinly and they’re finding themselves in combat pretty frequently. The real question is, is this mission do-able?”

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