Prime Minister David Cameron said today was "desperately sad" for Britain, after six of its soldiers were presumed killed in explosion in Afghanistan.
"It is a reminder of the huge price that we are paying for the work we are doing in Afghanistan and the sacrifice that our troops have made and continue to make," he said, according to the BBC. "I do believe it's important work for our national security right here at home, but of course this work will increasingly be carried out by Afghan soldiers and we all want to see that transition take place."
Britain's Ministry of Defence issued a statement in which they said the soldiers when on mounted patrol when their armored vehicle was hit by an explosion. The BBC says it understands that the explosion "was caused by either a roadside bomb laid by insurgents or a legacy mine, left over from the Soviet era."
The Los Angeles Times reports that the 25-ton Warrior vehicle is similar to a tank. The paper adds that the vehicle had not yet been recovered and "for that reason, the fatalities were not yet listed as confirmed.
Once confirmed, reports the AP, this would be become the deadliest incident for British troops since "a Nimrod aircraft crashed in 2006, killing 14 service members."
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