Britain would fight to keep the Falklands: Cameron

LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister David Cameron said on Sunday Britain was prepared to fight militarily to keep the Falkland Islands if necessary, in the face of renewed Argentinian rhetoric over their future.

Mr Cameron said Britain had "strong defences" in place on the islands and fast jets and troops were stationed there - comments Buenos Aires rejected as "militaristic threats."

President Cristina Kirchner said this week that Argentina was forcibly stripped of the Falklands by Britain in "a blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism" and demanded they be handed over to Argentina.

Mr Cameron insisted he was "absolutely clear" that Britain would defend the islands with military force.