The soldier, from 1st Battalion The Mercian Regiment, was serving with 40 Commando Royal Marines Battle Group and died near a patrol base in Sangin, Helmand Province.

"He was providing protection to his fellow soldiers who were returning from a patrol when tragically he was killed in an explosion," military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel James Carr-Smith said in a statement released by the Ministry of Defence in London.

"He will be greatly missed and his actions will not be forgotten."

The death was previously announced by NATO's International Security Assistance Force but his nationality was not revealed, in line with policy.

It brings to 175 the number of foreign soldiers who have died this year as a result of the war in Afghanistan, according to an AFP count based on one by the independent icasualties.org website.

A total of 520 foreign soldiers died in 2009 in Afghanistan, which is in the grip of a bloody insurgency waged by remnants of the Taliban since their ouster from power in a US-led invasion in 2001.

NATO and the United States are deploying thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan. Their number is to peak at 150,000 in August under a strategy designed to bring a swift end to the conflict.

Most of the extra troops are deploying in the south, the heartland of the insurgency, with particular attention paid to the Kandahar and Helmand provinces.

There are around 9,500 British troops in Afghanistan and 282 personnel have died there since operations started in 2001.

earlier related report
Kashmir stone-throwers kill man: Indian police
Srinagar (AFP) April 30, 2010 - Anti-India protesters stoned a bus in Indian Kashmir on Friday, killing a passenger as the region was again convulsed by violent demonstrations that also left 20 people injured, police said.

Police said the 42-year-old man was hit in the head as he travelled through Srinagar, the Kashmiri summer capital, and later died in hospital.

"A murder case has been registered. We will find the killers," Srinagar police chief Javed Reyaz Bedar told reporters.

Later, police fired tear gas and charged hundreds of protesters who tried to march to the high-security office of the United Nations to protest against alleged human rights violations by Indian security forces.

"In all 15 protesters and five policemen were hurt in clashes in Srinagar and other towns," a police spokesman said.

Young anti-India Muslims often throw stones at security forces during protests that frequently disrupt the volatile and violent Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

"The elements involved in this killing can never be well-wishers of Kashmir's freedom struggle," said moderate separatist leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. "The act is highly condemnable," he added.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah blamed the death on hardline separatist Syed Ali Geelani, who had called for a march to the UN office.

"It is only as a result of Geelani's Friday calendar of protests that he has announced that this innocent has died," Abdullah told reporters.

Geelani has urged people to protest against Indian rule on every Friday during May.

Both Geelani and Farooq were placed under house arrest Friday, police said.

Earlier Friday, the Indian military said it had killed three suspected militants as they attempted to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed region.

The fresh violence came a day after the prime ministers of India and Pakistan agreed to work towards resuming their frozen peace dialogue when they met in Bhutan for their first direct talks in nine months.

The heavily militarised 760-kilometre (470 mile) Line of Control divides Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan, who both claim the whole territory and have fought two wars over it.

The insurgency launched against Indian rule in 1989 has claimed more than 47,000 lives by official count.

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