BRITISH marines deployed in Sangin in southern Afghanistan, where British troops have suffered a high rate of casualties in recent weeks, are facing a growing threat from long-range rifle fire as Taliban fighters change their tactics.

Brig George Norton, deputy commander of British and US forces in Helmand province, said that the marines will be reinforced by a contingent guarding the nearby Kajaki dam. The unit will be replaced by US troops.

More than 800 British troops are based in Sangin, a strategic crossroads in central Helmand where four marines have been killed recently. Two were killed by gunfire recently. The number wounded has not been disclosed. Of the 307 British soldiers who have died in Afghanistan since 2001, 98 have been in Sangin.

Asked about the vulnerability of British troops in Sangin, Norton said “We are all vulnerable to IEDs [improvised explosive devices], but the insurgents are increasingly using long-distance small arms.”

Maj-Gen Gordon Messenger, the UK Ministry of Defence's chief military spokesman, said Taliban-led insurgents were resorting to what he described as an “increasing use of single shots at range”. British officers said it would be misleading to describe the shots as coming from snipers, a word suggesting the use of sophisticated rifles by well-trained fighters.

They said it was more a question of hidden insurgents firing from a distance and then fleeing an area difficult for British troops to attack because of the danger of civilian casualties.

“If the truth be told, there's still much hard fighting left to do”, said Maj-Gen Richard Mills, the American commander of 20,000 US marines and 8,000 British troops in Helmand. He acknowledged it had been a difficult week for British forces “but they are holding up very, very well.”

— The Guardian, London