Three British troops killed in Afghanistan
Ap, Kandahar
Taliban militants killed three British soldiers patrolling in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday in the first fatalities sustained by Nato forces since taking command of the insurgency-wracked region a day earlier, the British military said. The militants fired rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at two vehicles of the Nato-led force in the north of volatile Helmand province, where nearly 4,000 British troops are deployed. A fourth soldier was seriously wounded. Lt. Col. Kevin Stratford Wright, spokesman for the British Helmand Task Force, said the seriously wounded soldier was evacuated to a military hospital in Helmand. "Within the British headquarters we stood in a minute of silence as a mark of respect of those who have died," he said. "But we must get one with the job." Afghan officials reported the heavy fighting in Helmand's Musa Qala district started early Tuesday, but had no further information.
| 
