Kabul - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown arrived on a surprise visit in Afghanistan on Saturday, a day after four British soldiers were killed in suicide and roadside attacks in the southern region of the country, officials said.

A presidential palace source said Brown was scheduled to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and the two would hold a joint press conference later Saturday.

The official website for the prime minister said Brown would also pay a visit to his country troops. He last visited Afghanistan in August, when he pledged to continue British support for the country.

Brown's visit came a day after four British soldiers were killed in two separate blasts in Sangin district of southern Helmand province on Friday.

Kabul - Three British troops were killed in a suicide attack believed to have been carried out by a 13-year-old boy in southern Afghanistan, while a fourth soldier was killed in a roadside blast in the same region, officials said Saturday.

The soldiers serving under the banner of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in Sangin district of volatile southern Helmand province on Friday, the alliance said in a statement.

London  - Four British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan on Friday, taking the toll this year alone to 46, the Defence Ministry confirmed.

Lahore, Dec. 12 : A well-known expert on South Asia has said that it would be simplistic to belief that solving the Kashmir issue between India and Pakistan, would end the problems in Afghanistan.

“That’s going too fast and too much,’’ the Daily Times quoted Stephen Cohen, who has authored several books on the region including The Idea of Pakistan, as saying.

New Delhi, Dec. 12 : The recent terrorist assaults in Mumbai have demonstrated more than ever that unless the United States reverses course on Pakistan, it will begin losing the war in Afghanistan, claims Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the New Delhi-based Center for Policy Research.

The author of the book "Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan," goes on further to say that this “ shift holds the key to the successful outcome of both the war in Afghanistan and the wider international fight against transnational terror.”

Tokyo - Japan's lower house on Friday voted in favour of a one-year extension to the Japanese military's logistical support mission for the US-led anti-insurgency fight in Afghanistan.

Japan refuels US ships and other navy vessels in the Indian Ocean, but is banned from direct military participation by its pacifist constitution.

The vote overruled an earlier decision by the upper house, which is controlled by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DJP), against an extension of the mission, which runs out on January 15. 2009.

The more powerful lower house, where the ruling coalition of Prime Minister Taro Aso holds a solid majority, is empowered by the constitution to overturn upper house decisions.