LONDON, Jan 15: A British serviceman was killed in the southern Afghan province of Helmand on Monday, the Ministry of Defence here confirmed. The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan said earlier that one soldier was killed and several others wounded in an operation attacking an insurgent base in the south.

It did not name the province where the attack occurred or the nationality of the fallen serviceman.

The death brings to 46 the number of British troops killed in Afghanistan.

Britain has deployed around 5,600 service personnel to Afghanistan in total as part of the Nato-led reconstruction and security force, with around 4,300 of those in the south of the country and 1,300 in Kabul.

Most of the British troops are based in rugged and remote Helmand.—AFP