Britain's frontline soldiers have 1 in 36 chance of dying on Afghan battlefield
Britain's frontline troops in Afghanistan are being killed at such a rate that, were it to continue, one in 36 would not survive a six-month tour of the country.
In Iraq, as many as one in 100 of all service personnel could die during a six-month stint if the death rate there continues as it has in the past month.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that a serviceman from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment was killed on Saturday during an attack on a patrol base in Helmand province. His death brings to seven the number of British troops in Afghanistan killed in action or from wounds sustained in battle since July 12. This is compared with a monthly average of 0.7 since the conflict began in November 2001. All seven fatalities were members of a 1,500-strong frontline force primarily charged with fighting the Taleban.
If the death toll continued at this rate, 42 battle-group personnel would be killed in the next six months and a frontline soldier embarking on a typical tour of duty in the country would stand a one in 36 chance of being killed.
In Iraq, five personnel on frontline duties have died in the last month. If such a rate were to continue, 30 personnel from the roughly 1,500-strong "battle group" in Iraq would be expected to die in the next six months, giving a fatality rate of one in 50.
But as British troops in the southern Basra region begin to scale down their patrols in preparation for the planned handover of control to Iraqi forces this year, it is not only the "battle group" troops who are finding themselves in the firing line.
Last month three RAF men were killed in a rocket attack on their base at Basra airport, where British troops will soon be concentrated. A fourth man, Lance Corporal Timothy Flowers, died when the Basra Palace base was fired upon two days later.
New figures released this weekend reveal that the two bases have been hit by more than 300 rocket and mortar attacks in the past two months, more than the previous four years put together.
With all types of service personnel vulnerable to this kind of attack, the overall death toll of nine for last month, out of 5,500 troops based in Iraq, would mean that approximately one in 102 of all personnel would be expected to be killed during a six-month tour of duty.
The average number of troops killed every month in action or from wounds sustained in battle in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003 is 2.5.
Sir Menzies Campbell, the Liberal Democrat leader, said that it was imperative that the Government should urgently review its policies in both Iraq and Afghanistan "before the death toll rises further".
He said: "These statistics are deeply saddening. Above all because they represent personal tragedies for hundreds of British families. But they are also an indictment of a government which has no clear idea how to get British Forces home without further heavy loss of life."
Patrick Mercer, a Conservative MP and a former commanding officer of The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters, who have lost three men in Afghanistan, said that the Army faced a severe challenge. "Battalions are now taking very serious casualties - where every man will know every single person that is killed. This is an experience that the Army as a whole hasn't had since World War Two," he said. "The penalty you have to pay is that men will be extremely tired emotionally and physically, which is in no way a reflection on them. Six months is a long time to spend on an operation when you are suffering these kinds of losses.
"Meanwhile, three battalions have recently been disbanded and cuts mean that you have a smaller pool of men to send to do these very difficult tours. That means they will come round more and more frequently."
A spokesman for the MoD said that it was "oversimplistic" to draw conclusions from a monthly death toll.
"Fatalities over a short period of time do not provide an accurate reflection of the overall death rates of British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. These numbers represent people's lives and should not be taken out of context," he said.
"UK personnel have performed magnificently during a prolonged period of extensive operations. They have put their lives on the line and we cannot pay high enough tribute to the job they are doing."
The MoD said that the soldier who died on Saturday was killed when his patrol base, northeast of Sangin in Helmand, had come under attack from small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades.
The injured soldier, who has not been named, was taken by helicopter to Camp Bastion but did not survive. Five other soldiers received minor injuries in the attack.
On Friday, Private Tony Rawson, 27, was killed when his patrol was attacked by Taleban fighters on its way to check a local irrigation project.
Four servicemen were killed last week in Iraq, bringing the death toll so far this year to 41. This is compared with the 53 who died during the whole of 2003, the year of the invasion and fall of Baghdad.
A YouGov poll published this weekend found that 53 per cent of British voters believe that UK troops are failing in Iraq. Three quarters want them brought home immediately or within the next year. Only 6 per cent felt that Britain is winning in Afghanistan.
