Initial assessments of the explosion which killed six British soldiers in southern Afghanistan suggest it was a "very large Taliban bomb". Five from 3rd Battalion the Yorkshire Regiment and one from 1st Battalion The Duke of Lancaster's Regiment had been on patrol in Kandahar province on Tuesday. Their families have been told. The remains of the bodies have now been returned to Camp Bastion in Helmand. It is the biggest single loss of UK life in Afghanistan since 2006. Fourteen service personnel were killed in a Nimrod crash in that previous incident. The number of British military deaths in Afghanistan since 2001 is now 404. Prime Minister David Cameron said it was a "desperately sad day for our country". "Every death and every injury reminds us of the human cost paid by our armed forces to keep our country safe," he said, at the start of Prime Minister's Questions. In a statement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the six soldiers were on a security patrol in a Warrior ar! moured fighting vehicle when it was caught in an explosion in Kandahar province. Brig Patrick Sanders, commander of Task Force Helmand, said it suffered "catastrophic damage". The BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Lashkar Gah, Helmand, said the suspected Taliban bomb had been "extremely well placed". He also said that the vehicle wreckage had been returned to Camp Bastion. They had been travelling as part of a two Warrior patrol when the vehicle was hit at the junction of a road travelling east from Gereshk ...
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