A SOLDIER from1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan.

A SOLDIER from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment has been killed in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Defence announced the soldier's death today as a result of small arms fire in the Nad-e Ali area of central Helmand Province.

It takes the number of British fatalities in Afghanistan this year to 100 and is the 11th death since the start of operations for the The Royal Anglian Regiment - the Vikings - which recruits soldiers from Suffolk, Essex, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

Three Viking soldiers, Privates Aaron James McClure, Robert Graham Foster and John Thrumble, were killed by US aircraft 'friendly fire' as they battled insurgents in Helmand in August 2007.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said his thoughts were with the families and friends of the 100 British personnel who have died this year. “We will never forget those who have died fighting for our country and we must also honour their memory,” he said. “We mourn together the 100th British fatality in Afghanistan in 2009.”

Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, a spokesman for Task Force Helmand added: “It is with great sadness I must confirm that a soldier from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment was shot and killed in Helmand Province this afternoon. He was one of us, one of our fellow soldiers and we will remember him.”

Today's death brings the total number of British service personnel who have died since the start of operations in 2001 to 237.