Three soldiers killed in Afghanistan on a day when four men died have been named by the Ministry of Defence.

Sgt Ben Ross, from 3rd Regiment, Royal Military Police, and Cpl Kumar Pun, from the 1st Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles, died in a suicide attack.

Rifleman Adrian Sheldon, 25, from 2nd Battalion The Rifles, died in a separate explosion on Thursday.

Cpl Sean Binnie, 22, of the Black Watch had already been named as having been shot. All died in Helmand Province.

The MoD said Cpl Binnie had been on a reassurance patrol with the Afghan National Army.

His widow Amanda Binnie told the BBC how proud she was of her late husband.

"Words can't really describe how he was as a person," she said. "Everything that he did was just thinking about other people.

"He was in the middle of Afghanistan doing that job and he was more worried about my safety, you know, rather than his own."

Sgt Ross, 34, from 173 Provost Company, and Cpl Kumar, 31, were killed during a patrol in Gereshk.

Having joined the army in 1996, Sgt Ross, from Bangor, North Wales, served in Germany, Canada, Poland and the Balkans before transferring to the Royal Military Police in 2003.

Subsequent deployments included Sgt Ross serving as part of the 'close protection team' for the British Ambassador to Iraq.

His widow, Sheena, is also serving with the Royal Military Police.

'Warrior spirit'

Major Adam Quantrell, the officer commanding 173 Provost Company, described Sgt Ross as "a professional, a veteran of many tours with a warrior attitude and sprit".

Cpl Kumar, the son of a British Gurkha, was on his first deployment to Afghanistan after operations in Kosovo and Bosnia.

He was part of a team delivering training and mentoring to the Afghan National Police.

His commanding officer, Major Chris Conroy, described Cpl Kumar as "steadfast, brave and a true leader".

Rifleman Sheldon, from Kirkby-in-Ashfield, near Mansfield, was killed when his Jackal patrol vehicle was hit by an improvised device near Sangin, in the province's north.

His commanding officer Lt Col Rob Thomson described him as "an outstanding role model to all of us who count it a privilege to have served alongside him".

It was the first time since June 2008 that four soldiers have been killed on a single day. Three soldiers and a marine were killed on February 25 this year.

The latest deaths took the number of UK troops to have been killed on operations in Afghanistan to 157.