Captain is First British Soldier Killed in Afghanistan

The first British soldier to be killed in action in southern Afghanistan was named yesterday, amid growing fears about the length of time British troops would have to stay there to fulfil their mission.

Captain Jim Philippson, of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, was killed on Sunday evening after Taliban fighters attacked a British patrol in Sangin, in the north-east of Helmand province. He was killed as his force in armoured Land Rovers came under fire while evacuating two British soldiers seriously injured in the earlier engagement. The troops withdrew under fire after summoning Apache attack helicopters for help.

It was the fourth attack on British troops in Afghanistan in less than a month. On June 4 they killed an estimated 21 Taliban guerrillas in a six-hour fight.

Capt Philippson, 29, of St Albans, Hertfordshire, had served in Iraq and the Falklands. He was a "top quality officer in the best traditions of the regiment and the British army", said his commander, Lieutenant Colonel David Hammond. "Jim was a rising star in every sense who had a huge amount to offer." Capt Philippson's father, Anthony, said his "wonderful and brave" son lived for the army. "It's our only consolation. He was killed doing exactly what he wanted to do. He could never have worked behind a desk."

Mr Philippson said his son's "very close" girlfriend was devastated. His mother, who has remarried, lives in Portugal, and had been told of his death. On a visit to the 3,300-strong British brigade based in Helmand province, defence secretary Des Browne said the extent of their deployment would depend on the Afghans' ability to establish control over their country. "At this stage it would be impossible for me to honestly predict how long this is going to take," he told BBC radio. He admitted there were "challenges in relation to the police", who had "allegiances beyond the chief of police and the government locally and nationally".

Tony Blair told delegates at the GMB union's annual conference in Blackpool: "Our job is to stay with these people fighting for democracy in Iraq and Afghanistan, and stay with them until the job is done."

John Reid, Mr Browne's predecessor, described the British deployment in the hostile and opium-poppy growing south of Afghanistan as supporting "reconstruction and stabilisation, which might include some counter-insurgency operations for defensive purposes".

Recent attacks by the Taliban highlight the danger of "mission creep", with British troops having to take on more and more counter-terrorist and insurgency operations while training the Afghan security forces and protecting them in a drug eradication programme which, ministers admit, will take years and involve huge financial resources.