British soldiers inspect a Snatch Landrover, a vehicle that has been repeatedly criticised  The identity of the soldier was confirmed by her father, Des Feely.  He said: “It is truly devastating ... an absolute massive shock. Ever since she was a schoolgirl it was her dream to be a soldier. I cannot believe she will not come home.  “She was due to fly back next month. But now she’ll be coming back to be buried with military honours at the church in nearby Wetheral where she was married two years ago.”  Sgt Bryant married fellow intelligence officer Carl Bryant, her long time sweetheart, two years ago.  She had done two six month tours to Iraq and been promoted recently to the rank of Sergeant in the Intelligence Corps.  She spoke the local Pashtu language, and her work involved monitoring Taliban telephone and walkie-talkie communications.  The Intelligence Corps, in which she was serving, performs one of the most dangerous jobs of all - gathering information and trying to win the confidence of the local population.  Mr Feely, of Cotehill, Carlisle, said he and wife Maureen was “absolutely devastated to have lost the beautiful daughter we adored”.  He added: “But I know that at least Sarah died doing the job she loved and for a cause she believed in.”  In one of the bloodiest periods of the conflict so far, nine British soldiers have died in the last 10 days, bringing the total number of deaths to 106 since the start of military operations in November 2001.  The latest tragedy came just days after the Government announced that around 200 more troops are being sent to the country, taking the UK force to a record high of 8,030 by next spring.  The sharp upturn in violence against British troops in recent weeks followed a period of relative stability and has raised fears of a Taliban summer offensive.  Commanders say the Taliban have changed tactics, increasingly using suicide bombers and sophisticated weaponry possibly supplied by Iran, instead of fighting openly against British forces.  The deaths of four soldiers was the single biggest loss of life to hostile action in Afghanistan. An RAF Nimrod crashed in September 2006 killing 14 people but enemy action was found not to be a factor.  It led to further questions over the state of equipment after the Snatch Landrover the soldiers were in was hit by an explosion near Lashkar Gah, the capital of Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, on Tuesday afternoon.  The vehicles have been repeatedly criticised for not providing enough protection against roadside bombs and experts called for them to be fitted with electronic countermeasures, and for the deployment of more helicopters.  Conservative MP and former Army officer Patrick Mercer said: "Helicopters are still vulnerable, but they're not vulnerable to this sort of weapon."  The three men who died were from 23rd Special Air Service Regiment, which is one of two Territorial Army SAS units.  They are expected to be named on Thursday after the Ministry of Defence changed its policy about keeping the names of special forces fatalities secret.  The soldiers were involved in an operation to train Afghan security forces when the explosion happened.  A military source said: "It was part of the training they are giving the Afghans. There was a large explosion, they were in a convoy but they were the one vehicle that was pretty badly hit."  Military explosives experts will visit the scene to establish the exact nature of the bomb but it was believed to be an improvised explosive device or a mine.  A fifth soldier was wounded in the attack and was in a stable condition after being evacuated to the sprawling British desert military base at Camp Bastion in Helmand.  Last week more than 1,000 prisoners, including hundreds of Taliban insurgents, broke out of the main prison in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan's biggest city, in the province neighbouring Helmand.  NATO and Afghan forces began a huge, three-day offensive after many of those from the jail took over villages on the outskirts of the city. At least 20 Taliban insurgents were reportedly killed.  Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the British mission in Afghanistan was the "noblest of causes" and refuted accusations that soldiers were being failed by poor equipment.  He told MPs that the Taliban had changed tactics and new equipment would be provided to cope with that.  Mr Brown said: "They are no longer fighting as an army, they are fighting as an insurgency. That's why we are seeing mines and roadside bombs, that is why we are re-ordering the way our forces work and that is why we are taking new equipment to Afghanistan.  "We are well equipped and will be better equipped in the months to come to deal with this new problem."  But Charles Heyman, defence analyst and former Army major, said the only real defence against roadside bombs was to return to using helicopters to move troops around as in South Armagh 25 years ago.  He said: "The roads in Afghanistan are too dangerous for normal troop movement. Theoretically, we have quite a lot of troop carrying helicopters, we have got 40 Chinooks of one sort or another and Merlins.  "A lot of them are not serviceable and it costs an absolute fortune to maintain these helicopters in dusty places like Afghanistan - it costs a lot but they have got to do it."  Colonel Bob Stewart, former commander of British forces in Bosnia, said: "This has become an insurgency. By failing against us in pitch battle the Taliban have learnt they don't stand a chance and they have changed their tactics to be much more like Iraq.  "It is extremely difficult. Firstly, we haven't got the armoured vehicles we should have, but much more importantly, in order to win over the people, soldiers have to actually get out and meet people.  "If troops disappear into helicopters, you never win the hearts and minds."  When asked if he thought British efforts in Afghanistan were worth the bloodshed David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said it was the "only way this can be done".  He said: "It's a very poor country but it doesn't need to be a country overrun by al-Qa'eda."  Meanwhile, the Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth suggested there were members of the Taliban that could be talked to.  He said: "There are both sets of people within Taliban. There are those people who we can talk to, who we can potentially win over, but there are also people hell-bent on taking that country back to where it was a couple of years ago."  Have your say: Are you a British woman serving in Afghanistan? Tell us your experience
Sarah Bryant, 26, was killed with three male soldiers in the deadliest attack    on UK forces in the troubled country since hostilities began in 2001.