Rate of British military fatalities in Afghanistan ‘nearly doubled’: Figures
By ANITuesday, July 20, 2010
LONDON - New figures have disclosed that the rate of British troops being killed in Afghanistan has nearly doubled in recent months and is proportionately far higher than their American counterparts.
According to the figures released by the Medical Research Council, in 160 weeks up to May last year, 152 British troops were killed in Afghanistan. In the 60 weeks since then, 155 were killed.
In the last 10 weeks, 32 British troops have been killed, or 17 per 1,000 personnel years (the MRC’s measure, which takes into account the number of soldiers deployed in Afghanistan over a calendar year).
The US figure for the same period was just 6.8.
The figures, compiled by the MRC Biostatistics Unit at Cambridge, show that the rate of British military fatalities is higher now than at any time since the unit started making records in 2006.
According to the Ministry of Defence, a total of 322 British forces personnel have died in Afghanistan since 2001. (ANI)
