 Nine UK soldiers have lost their lives in Afghanistan in nine days |
Two more UK troops have died in separate attacks in Helmand province in Afghanistan, the eighth and ninth soldiers to be killed this month.
One soldier was killed in an explosion and the second died from a gunshot wound. Their next of kin have been informed, the Ministry of Defence said.
The soldiers, who died on Thursday, were from 4th Battalion The Rifles and Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment.
The number of UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 is now 178.
The soldier from 4th Battalion The Rifles was killed in a blast while on foot patrol near Nad Ali on Thursday afternoon.
The soldier from Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment, attached to 1st Battalion Welsh Guards, was killed during an engagement with insurgent forces near Lashkar Gah on Thursday evening.
The latest deaths bring the toll in Afghanistan to just one short of the 179 personnel killed before British troops pulled out of Iraq.
| BRITISH FATALITIES IN AFGHANISTAN MARCH 2006 - JULY 2009  September 2006: Highest monthly toll with 19 dead including 14 killed when a RAF Nimrod crashes in Afghanistan. June 2008: British death toll reaches 100. Among the 13 fatalities in June is the first British female soldier. May 2009: Surge in casualties as Taliban use powerful Improvised Explosive Devices to attack British forces. |
Lt Col Nick Richardson said: "These fine British soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice and their memory will live with us forever.
"We mourn their loss and our thoughts and prayers are with their families and friends at this very sad time. We know that their deaths were not in vain."
British forces are engaged in a major offensive in Helmand province, in the south of the country, and have been joined by about 4,000 US and 650 Afghan troops.
The joint campaign is designed to drive the Taliban out of the region and make it safe for presidential elections due next month.
News of the two deaths came as the bodies of five soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the past week were returned to the UK.
The aircraft carrying their coffins arrived at RAF Lyneham, in Wiltshire, for a repatriation ceremony.
After the ceremony, hearses carrying the coffins will pass through nearby Wootton Bassett, which is expected to be lined with hundreds of mourners.
The former UK ambassador to the United Nations, Sir Jeremy Greenstock, told the BBC he did not think the operation in Afghanistan was well-enough resourced.
The government is not doing enough for our military. We need a massive surge of British troops to take more of the fight to the Taliban
He said: "We don't have enough troops in the Army to run these sorts of operations any more, we've cut down too far."
But he said: "We want to see an Afghanistan that doesn't threaten us, therefore we do have dogs in this fight."
He also said that despite the public's support for British troops, there was a lack of understanding among people of how the military was going to achieve that objective.
Earlier this week Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth said more soldiers would die before the operation in Afghanistan was over.
In his first speech since being appointed defence secretary, Mr Ainsworth said the way forward in Afghanistan would be "hard and dangerous".
He said: "More lives will be lost and our resolve is going to be tested. Success will be achieved incrementally."
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