Dead soldier's sister attacks PM

Father-of-one Pte Ellis was on patrol when he was killed

Gordon Brown has been urged to pull UK troops out of Afghanistan by the sister of a soldier killed in Iraq.

The prime minister was confronted by Karla Ellis, sister of Pte Lee Ellis, who died in a roadside bomb in 2006.

At an event organised by Manchester radio station Key 103, Ms Ellis urged Mr Brown to "bring them home".

Mr Brown said he wanted British troops to return "as quickly as possible" but insisted that supporting Afghan forces was necessary to keep the UK safe.

The confrontation followed the killing of five British soldiers by an Afghan policeman on Tuesday.

Also on Thursday, a soldier from 3rd Battalion, The Rifles, died in an explosion near Sangin, central Helmand.

'Do the right thing'

Father-of-one Pte Ellis, 23, served with the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment based in Colchester, Essex, and was attached to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.

Ms Ellis, 28, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, who has been active raising funds for injured veterans and their families, told the prime minister that the government's strategy in Afghanistan was not working.

At a question and answer session organised by the radio station, she urged the UK to withdraw its forces.

She asked: "How many of our under-equipped soldiers have to die before the powers that be do the right thing, instead of trying to save face, and bring them home?"

Our whole strategy is to make sure we are not an occupying army Gordon Brown Prime Minister Iraq soldier buried with honours Tributes to five 'men of courage'

Mr Brown replied that he wanted British troops back home as well, but said that the "way we can do it is to train up the Afghans themselves".

He added that some three-quarters of terrorist plots against the UK had been traced back to the border area of Afghanistan or Pakistan.

The prime minister continued: "The Taliban have access to weapons they can use indiscriminately against you or me on the streets of cities in Britain.

"What we are facing in Afghanistan is an insurgency, it is guerilla warfare.

"The strategy is to get the Afghans to take more responsibility for their own government."

He acknowledged that the recent election in Afghanistan had been "less than perfect" but said the country needed a stronger army and police force.

Ms Ellis countered: "I don't think that strategy will work. You can't trust these people."

Mr Brown responded that the Taliban "know the minute the Afghan forces get stronger, they are in a worse position".

He added: "Our whole strategy is to make sure we are not an occupying army but that the Afghans are starting to run their own affairs."

Opened fire

The five soldiers killed on Tuesday had been working and living in a compound at a national police checkpoint in the Nad Ali district in the two weeks up to their deaths.

They were Warrant Officer first class Darren Chant, 40; Sergeant Matthew Telford, 37; Guardsman Jimmy Major, 18; Corporal Steven Boote, 22, and Corporal Nicholas Webster-Smith, 24.

They died when a policeman being trained by UK forces opened fire, also injuring six other British personnel and two Afghan National Police officers.

The top UK general in Afghanistan, Gen Jim Dutton, has told the BBC that the attack "probably won't be the last" of its kind.

The soldier's death in Sangin on Thursday brings the number of UK personnel who have died in Afghanistan since the mission began in October 2001 to 230.

Mr Brown is to make what advisers call a "major" speech on the Afghanistan campaign on Friday.