A British soldier has been killed in Afghanistan, just hours before Gordon Brown announced the deployment of 500 extra troops.
The Ministry of Defence announced the soldier's death several minutes after the prime minister had finished his statement in the Commons on Monday.
"It is my sad duty to confirm that a soldier from First Battalion, Coldstream Guards was killed this morning by an explosion in the Babaji area of Helmand province," said Lieutenant Colonel David Wakefield, spokesperson for Taskforce Helmand.
"He died doing his duty as a British soldier, among his fellow soldiers, and we will remember him."
The unnamed soldier, whose next of kin have been informed, is the 236th UK soldier to be killed in Afghanistan since the war began.
Barack Obama is due to announce the new American strategy for the eight-year-old conflict on Tuesday evening.
It is expected to see about 30,000 extra US troops deployed.
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