COLCHESTER’S soldiers will not return to the town where there has been fierce fighting on their two previous tours of Afghanistan.

The town’s paratroopers were the first foreign soldiers to enter Sangin in 2006.

Bitter battles in the area have claimed the lives of 99 British troops.

Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox yesterday confirmed the district, a centre for the opium trade, will be handed over to American troops later in the year.

When the town’s 16 Air Assault Brigade returns to Afghanistan for the third time in the autumn, it will be concentrated around the centre of Helmand province.

Announcing the move in Parliament and the deployment of 300 extra troops for the summer, Dr Fox said British troops have made huge progress in the face of great adversity in Sangin.

He said: “On the ground we continue to make progress.

“There will be hard days ahead, but the further changes I have announced mean more manpower and greater focus for the key battleground of central Helmand.

“We have the right strategy and we are determined to see it through.”

Colonel Richard Kemp, who commanded British forces in Afghanistan in 2003, described the move as “the logical thing to do”.

He said: “There has been an anamoly where northern Helmand is manned by American troops, apart from the British battlegroup around Sangin. This is about consolidating all British forces in central Helmand, where they will be doing just as dangerous work as in Sangin.”

Col Kemp, a former Colchester Royal Grammar School pupil, said British troops will have an emotional attachment to Sangin.

He said: “We’ve lost nearly a third of our troops killed in Afghanistan around Sangin and people will be saddened by that.

“But our troops, and the Parachute Regiment in particular, can draw strength from the knowledge the hard fighting and sacrifices they have made in Sangin has assisted the security effort in Afghanistan, which helps to maintain security in the UK.”

Jeff Doherty, whose son Private Jeff “JJ” Doherty was killed near Sangin while serving with 2nd Battalion, Parachute Regiment in 2008, said: “It doesn’t bother me our troops are leaving Sangin, provided the Americans put as much effort in to it as we have.

“Our lads are moving on to other areas that’ll be just as difficult.”