Saturday, July 11, 2009 LONDON/L'AQUILA: Britain said eight soldiers had been killed in Afghanistan, its worst death toll in a 24-hour period.Five troops on foot patrol were killed by two blasts, the highest death toll in a single attack. Britain has now lost 184 soldiers in Afghanistan since it joined the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, more than the 179 deaths during its campaign in Iraq that began in 2003. Fifteen soldiers, including four officers, have been killedin the past 10 days in the fight against Taliban insurgents. On the other hand, the head of Britain's military insisted the Taliban were losing the fight in Afghanistan, as London reflected Saturday on one of the most tragic days for its troops in decades. Air Chief Marshal Jock Stirrup admitted it was "tough going" in Afghanistan after eight soldiers were killed within 24 hours, taking the British military death toll higher than in Iraq.
BAGHDAD: Nearly 500 U.S. Army combat engineers who specialize in clearing roads of explosives started shifting to southern Afghanistan."We are probably going to be the beginning of the influx you are going to see to Afghanistan," Lt. Col. Kevin Landers, commander of the Fort Carson, Colo.-based 4th Engineer Battalion, said as crews packed crates and cleaned vehicles for the flight to Kandahar.Obama has ordered 17,000 more U.S. soldiers and Marines to Afghanistan to bolster the 38,000 American troops already battling the resurgent Taliban."We are going to take this footprint out of Iraq," said Landers, whose battalion received word of its reassignment last month just after taking command of clearing roads in Baghdad of bombs and debris.
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