British forces have transferred responsibility for security in the violence-wracked district of Sangin in southern Afghanistan to US forces, the ministry of defence said on Monday.
"ISAF (the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force) has today announced that British forces in southern Afghanistan have handed responsibility for security in Sangin to US forces," it said in a statement.
British forces have suffered their heaviest losses in Sangin, which is in Helmand province, with more than 100 deaths in the market town and surrounding areas, nearly a third of their total casualties since the invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.