British soldier killed in Afghanistan

LONDON (Reuters) - A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.

The fatality comes just a day after Prime Minister Gordon Brown's visit to Afghanistan, where he put forward a new security strategy for the region, as international alarm spreads over Taliban advances.

The soldier, from the 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed while on foot patrol alongside the Afghan National Army near the Forward Operating Base Keenan, north east of Gereshk, in Helmand province.

The Ministry of Defence said the cause of the blast was under investigation.

British troops in Helmand will be reinforced in coming weeks by the arrival of 8,000 U.S. marines which NATO commanders hope will reverse what they have described as a stalemate in one of the country's most violent provinces.

Britain has more than 8,000 troops based in Afghanistan, the vast majority serving in Helmand, a desert province that remains a heartland of the Taliban-led insurgency.

More than 150 members of the British armed forces have died in Afghanistan since late 2001 when U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban from power.

(Reporting by Lorraine Turner; editing by Matthew Jones)