LONDON, April 13 (Reuters) - A British soldier was killed by gunfire from Taliban fighters while on a routine patrol in southern Afghanistan on Friday, the Ministry of Defence said.

The soldier, a member of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment, was killed after a firefight broke out between his patrol and Taliban forces near the town of Now Zad, in the northwest of the volatile Helmand Province.

The death brings to at least 12 the number of foreign troops to have died in fighting this week, one of the bloodiest weeks for foreign forces in several months.

On Thursday, two NATO soldiers were killed in separate roadside bombings in the east of the country.

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