British troops in southern Afghanistan came under Taliban fire 1279 times in the 11 months to the end of August - an average of four attacks a day - The Herald has learned.

The level of violence exceeded that of any conflict since the Korean War in the early 1950s and is in marked contrast to the average 15 major incidents a month - three a week - logged against UK forces during 38 years of counter-insurgency in Northern Ireland.

A total of 34 soldiers died in Helmand and Kandahar provinces during the period for which figures are available, with eight further deaths since then. Overall, 82 British service personnel have been killed there since 2001.

A further 245 have been wounded in action since last year, including 68 with life-threatening injuries.

The Royal Anglians, who returned to the UK last week after six months as a spearhead battalion in Helmand, suffered nine dead and 114 wounded and fired almost 400,000 bullets during their tour of duty.

Most of the Taliban firepower was aimed at fewer than 1500 men acting as the forward battlegroup contingents in Sangin, Kajaki and Gereshk. More than 500 incidents took place during the winter "ceasefire" months when Afghans traditionally abandon military activity because of the weather.

British soldiers have fired an estimated two million rounds of rifle and machine-gun ammunition and killed more than 1000 of their opponents since 2006.

A Parachute Regiment source said: "The Taliban are not well-trained and they tend to do things that get them killed. But they're undoubtedly courageous and they have a natural instinct for using the ground to their advantage."

Brigadier Andrew Mackay, one of Scotland's most experienced infantry officers, yesterday took command of the Helmand task force along with the 50-strong staff of the Edinburgh-based 52nd Infantry Brigade In Afghanistan yesterday, gunmen armed with machine-guns opened fire on people praying at a mosque in Wardak province, killing two and wounding 12 others.

And a German engineer and four Afghans taken hostage in July were freed yesterday in exchange for five imprisoned criminals.