LONDON - A British soldier was killed by a roadside bomb that exploded Monday during a routine patrol in southern Iraq, the defence ministry announced in London.
The death of 24-year-old Anthony John Wakefield brings to 88 the number of British military personnel who have died in Iraq since the US-British-led invasion in March 2003.
Wakefield, a father of two and member of the army's Coldstream Guards, and another soldier were driving on a road south of Al-Amarah, near Basra in the south of Iraq patrolled by British troops, when the bomb went off.
"He was acting as the top cover sentry in the second of a two-vehicle patrol when what appears to have been an improvised explosive device detonated, disabling the vehicle and injuring another soldier," said Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Williams, the commanding officer of 1 Staffords, another division serving alongside the Coldstream Guards.
"Despite receiving first aid at the scene and in the helicopter that evacuated him, he sadly died of wounds shortly after being attended by the doctor at the battle group's base just outside the town," Williams said.
The second soldier was not seriously injured, the defence ministry said.
Defence Minister Geoff Hoon said earlier that Wakefield's death "demonstrates the continuing threat to our forces in Iraq."
He said that there had been a "significant reduction" in insurgent activity following the Iraqi elections at the end of January, but added: "I accept that there have been spikes of activity by the insurgents from time to time."
Wakefield's Coldstream Guards and the 1 Staffords have been deployed in Iraq alongside the 12 Mechanised Brigade in Iraq on a six-month tour of duty that began in March.
Some 8,000 British soldiers are currently deployed in the country, comprising the second-largest foreign contingent after the United States.
Prime Minister Tony Blair, campaigning for Thursday's general election, said on learning of the soldier's death that the incident "underlines the extraordinary work and sacrifices that British soldiers are making" towards a democratic Iraq.
05/02/2005 17:12 GMT