6 UK soldiers killed in Taliban IED explosion in Helmand Afghanistan

Six U.K. soldiers are missing and presumed dead after an explosion in southwest Afghanistan, the Defence Ministry said Wednesday. The incident occurred Tuesday in Helmand province. "I have the tragic duty to report that six soldiers are missing, believed killed, during a security patrol," said Lt. Col. Gordon Mackenzie, a spokesman for a task force of soldiers in the province. The soldiers were traveling in a tracked armored vehicle when the blast occurred, a British military official said. The vehicle hit a landmine, setting off a substantial explosion, the official said. The area where the blast occurred was not on a paved road. It is in the Nar-e-Saraj area of Helmand, where Britain has lost many troops previously. There was a possibility the blast was caused by a "legacy device," a mine left over from the Soviet era, the official said. Such devices have been found in that area, but there is no evidence leading to that conclusion at this point, he added.