A British soldier was killed and another seriously wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their patrol in the southern Iraqi city of Basra today.
"In Basra this morning an IED [improvised explosive device] detonated next to a passing British patrol," a spokesman said.
British troops control large parts of southern Iraq, a swathe of territory where Shia Muslim militiamen have risen up in the past week.
The death brings to 23 the number of British soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the start of the US-led war to oust Saddam Hussein in March last year.