Rifles regiment's heavy death toll (From Bournemouth Echo)

Rifles regiment's heavy death toll

11:30am Wednesday 10th March 2010 in

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ALL six of the British soldiers killed in Afghanistan during the last week, including Bournemouth’s Jonny Allott, belong to the same regiment.

The Rifles are successors to the Devon and Dorsets – and troops from this newly formed unit are at the frontline of the new strategy in Afghanistan.

They are infantrymen, the workhorses of the army.

Today, as every day, they will be on foot patrol trying on the one hand to be nice to the population, and on the other trying to spot the suicide bomber or sniper potentially around every corner.

The regiment is Dorset’s new county regiment and is due to take the freedom of Bournemouth during a parade on July 25 to mark the town’s 200th birthday celebrations.

There is also a freedom ceremony planned for Poole civic centre on Friday, March 19, and a full parade will be organised, hopefully in 2011.

Rifleman Jonny Allott, 19, from Kinson, was killed last Friday serving with 3 Rifles around the most dangerous place to currently be a British soldier, Sangin, a town in Northern Helmand.

He joins Captain Mark Hale, 42, raised in Winton, Bournemouth, and killed in August 2009, and Rifleman Phil Allen, 20, of Verwood and killed in November 2009, as Dorset’s casualties from The Rifles.

The 3 Rifles Battlegroup in Sangin is around 1,100 men strong including men from every branch of the army, and their main focus is now to win over the local people, not fight the Taliban.

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Dorset’s roll of honour

2006

June 27: Sgt Paul Bartlett, 35, with Poole-based SBS unit of Royal Marines; in a gun battle, Helmand.

September 2: Flight Lieutenant Leigh Mitchelmore , 28, of Bournemouth, with RAF 120 Squadron; in a crash involving a Nimrod aircraft, Kandahar.

2008

March 30: Lieutenant John Thornton, 22, of Ferndown, with Royal Marines 40 Commando; in an explosion while on patrol, Helmand.

November 12: Marine Neil Dunstan, 32, of Burton, with Royal Marines 3 Commando Brigade, UK Landing Force Command Support Group; in an explosion while on joint patrol with Afghan forces, Helmand.

2009

August 13: Captain Mark Hale, 42, of Bournemouth, with 2nd Battalion the Rifles; in an explosion while on foot patrol, Helmand.

November 7: Rifleman Philip Allen , 20, from Verwood; of 2nd Battalion The Rifles, serving with 4th Battalion the Rifles in the 3 Rifles Battle Group; in an explosion, Helmand.

2010

March 5: Rifleman Jonathon Allott, 19, from Bournemouth, of 3rd Battalion the Rifles; in an explosion while on foot patrol, Helmand.

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The battlegroup has suffered eleven deaths among 3 Rifles members, and the deaths of nine Rifles soldiers attached from sister battalions.

Ministry of Defence statistics show that for every soldier killed between three and four are wounded.

• Place your tributes to Jonny here