EAST ANGLIA: Another soldier from Colchester has lost his life in Afghanistan.

This latest fatality takes the grim death toll to seven in February alone – and we’re not even half way through the month.

The total number of UK fatalities since operations began nearly 10 years ago in the war-torn country is 357.

The latest soldier served with the Colcheser-based 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment.

The Ministry of Defence said he was killed by an improvised explosive device in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Helmand province yesterday.

He is the third loss borne by the regiment in the last few days.

The MoD earlier announced that two British soldiers from the Royal Logistic Corps had also died in a fire at Camp Bastion which may have started in a boiler and is not believed to have been caused by enemy action.

Last Wednesday, two Colchester paras were killed during a firefight in Helmand.

Since the beginning of February, seven soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan – one fewer than have died in the previous three months.

Last week, Norwich-born Private Lewis Hendry, from 3rd Battalion, and Private Conrad Lewis, a full-time reservist from 4th Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, received serious gunshot wounds in the Nad Ali District. After receiving medical attention at the scene, and extraction by helicopter, the soldiers died of their injuries.

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