A SOLDIER serving with the Didcot-based 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment has died after an explosion in Afghanistan.

The bomb disposal expert died in hospital yesterday.

The soldier, who has not been named, was on an operation to clear improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in the Nahr-e Saraj District of Helmand Province on Monday and was injured when one of the devices blew up.

Spokesman for Task Force Helmand, Lieutenant Colonel Tim Purbrick, said: "It is with much sadness that I have to inform you of the death of a soldier attached to the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device Task Force from 11 Explosive Ordnance Disposal Regiment, Royal Logistic Corps, during a clearance operation in support of B Company 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment in the Nahr-e Saraj district of Central Helmand.

"The soldier was neutralising a complex set of improvised explosive devices on Monday 18th April, which had been sown in an alleyway between two compounds when one of the devices detonated.

"Immediate first aid was provided and a helicopter Medical Emergency Response Team recovered the casualty to the military hospital in Camp Bastion.

"Surgeons stabilised the patient sufficiently for a Critical Care Air Support Team to conduct a medical evacuation from Camp Bastion to the Queen Elizabeth NHS Hospital in Birmingham where, tragically, the individual died."