A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence says.
The soldier, from the 3 Para Battle Group, was shot while on a patrol near the town of Sangin. He died while he was being given treatment.

The incident came as Tony Blair told MPs that the UK's Afghan role was vital for world security.

A UK defence source told the BBC extra troops could be sent to Afghanistan, where six troops have died in a month.

The latest British casualties in Helmand were two soldiers killed in a rocket attack on Saturday.

The BBC's source said a request for more troops was being passed up the chain of command but had yet to reach ministers.

More troops requested

A defence statement, referring to the soldier killed on Wednesday, said: "We can confirm that during a patrol in Sangin town, members of 3 Para battle group were attacked by suspected Taleban forces.

"It is with deep regret we can confirm that during the incident a British soldier has been killed."

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Officials believe he died at about 1030 BST (1500 local time).

"We are currently in the process of informing the next of kin and cannot comment further until this process is complete," the MoD said.

BBC defence correspondent Paul Wood said a defence source had indicated extra troops could well be sent to Helmand but that a decision had not yet been made.

Our correspondent said field commanders in Afghanistan had spoken to the Permanent joint HQ in the UK and their requests were now being considered.

The source said it was "inconceivable" that any request from the field would be turned down, he said.

The source had indicated that it would be a request for more troops rather than more equipment, he added.

'Determined and sophisticated'

BBC correspondent in Kabul, Alastair Leithead, said British forces were entering areas that had not previously seen much of a military presence.

"Troops are going into areas where there haven't been coalition forces, or indeed a government presence for a long period of time," he said.

"They're fighting, they say, a Taleban that is more determined and more sophisticated than they anticipated.

"But as yet military commanders are not screaming for hundreds of more troops.

"They're saying they do need various things to make their lives easier, they need specialist equipment to help them with this threat they have got.

"They say when they have asked for this, they have been promised them."

Clear mission

The prime minister spoke out at parliamentary question time after being prompted by Conservative leader David Cameron.

Mr Blair said: "It is absolutely clear the Taleban will fight very hard, particularly in the south of the country in order to regain their foothold."

He also said they wanted to make Afghanistan the "headquarters of al-Qaeda", with "the people brutally repressed by a regime that was not just bloody in what it did to its own people, but also in what it exported to the rest of the world".

British troops had a clear mission to support the Afghan government in the reconstruction of their country to create a "stable, prosperous, democratic, tolerant society", he said.

Meanwhile, US-led forces in Afghanistan said they had killed about 35 militants in a raid on a "known Taleban compound" in Helmand.

The raid took place on Tuesday night in the village of Gujdar, some 25km (16 miles) east of Musa Qala in the south of the province.

On Wednesday, Afghanistan's capital Kabul was hit by blasts for a second day - one person died and at least 40 were wounded in three bombings targeted at buses carrying Afghan army officers and government workers.