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More U.K. troops and choppers for Afghanistan

Richard Norton-Taylor and Jeevan Vasagar

Infantry from the Royal Irish Regiment will go to Afghanistan to reinforce severely stretched British forces battling Taliban militants, U.K. Defence Secretary Des Browne is expected to announce.

The Government is likely to send helicopters and armoured vehicles as well as engineers and infantry soldiers in response to appeals from commanders on the ground.

A Canadian soldier was killed on Sunday in the latest bout of fierce fighting during a regional campaign, which has claimed the lives of six British soldiers. At least 20 coalition troops have been killed across Afghanistan since the start of Operation Mountain Thrust, a campaign aimed at driving resurgent Taliban forces from their mountain and desert hideouts.

The Canadian, Corporal Anthony Boneca, died in a fire-fight in the Zharew district, which borders Panjwayi, an opium-rich Taliban stronghold in the southern province of Kandahar.

Matter of urgency

Mr. Browne is expected to tell MPs that troops from the 1st battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment will be deployed as a matter of urgency.

British commanders have said troops manning forward bases in the Sangin Valley, a notorious Taliban haven, are being stretched pursuing militants. They have few resources to conduct a parallel ``hearts and minds'' campaign to entice the local population to back them and Afghan forces in the battle against the militants.

During recent months, Afghanistan has been gripped by the bloodiest spate of violence since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the Taliban in 2001.

Some 10,000 U.S., Canadian, British and Afghan forces have been deployed across southern Afghanistan as part of Operation Mountain Thrust in a bid to loosen the Taliban's grip on the region. At least 20 coalition troops have been killed in combat across the country since the offensive started in May. Most of the fatalities have been in the south. A total of 65 foreign soldiers have died in Afghanistan this year. A bomb hit a NATO-led patrol of Spanish peacekeepers in western Afghanistan on Saturday, killing one man. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006

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