Relentless rise of Afghanistan casualties of British troops laid bare

The deaths and "life-changing" injuries suffered by British troops in Afghanistan are rising relentlessly as the political battles over whether the force is properly equipped continue to rage in London.

Another soldier has been killed, it was announced yesterday, taking the total since 2001 to 185, of whom 180 have died since the operation in Helmand province began in 2006.

Rifleman Aminiasi Toge, 26, from the 2nd Battalion The Rifles, was killed on Thursday by an improvised explosive device while on a foot patrol near Gereshk in central Helmand. Next of kin have been informed.

Lieutenant-Colonel Rob Thomson, commanding officer of 2 Rifles said: "Rifleman Toge was my fastest Fijian and was known as "Lightning". He was smaller than most of my South Pacific heroes but no less robust, determined and wily with an oval ball under his arm. And that was when he was at his happiest — on our (usually wet) pitch in Northern Ireland or throwing the ball around his FOB [forward operating base] in the dust." He was one of 35 Fijians in the 2 Rifles battle group.

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He was the 16th soldier to be killed this month, taking the toll to 48 this year. But the number of wounded has also been increasing, with many of the injuries changing the lives of soldiers for ever.

The Ministry of Defence has produced new injury figures for the period to June 30 which provide an alarming insight into the rising level of casualties.

They do not include any figures for July, but it is likely that the total injured for the first 17 days of July will add another 30 to 40 to the "wounded in action" statistics.

The latest MoD figures reveal that in June, 46 soldiers were wounded in action, compared with 24 in May, 11 in April, 15 in March, 25 in February and 21 in January.

Of the 46 last month, five were "very seriously wounded" and eight were "seriously wounded". All will have had to have surgery and some will have had amputations, requiring lengthy rehabilitation at the MoD's centre for wounded servicemen and women at Headley Court, near Dorking, Surrey.

Taking an estimated figure of an additional 30 wounded this month, about 730 Armed Forces personnel will have been wounded in action in southern Helmand since 2006.

For the British force in Helmand, the high level of wounded and killed has an impact, not just on the mood of the soldiers but also on manpower levels. General Sir Richard Dannatt, the head of the Army, has been urging the Government to send more troops — he wants another 2,000 in addition to the 9,000 already there.

Gordon Brown told MPs on Thursday that there were now 9,150 troops in Afghanistan, taking into account the extra 140 sent from the reserve battalion, based in Cyprus, to help with Operation Panther's Claw, the mission against the Taleban in central Helmand. The real total fluctuates from week to week and may at present be considerably fewer than the figure given by the Prime Minister.