TWO British soldiers have been killed by a Taliban bomb while on foot patrol in the north of Helmand province.
The troops from 3rd Battalion The Rifles died on Friday evening near the town of Sangin. Their families have been informed.
Lieutenant-Colonel David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said: "They were on a foot patrol protecting the local population from insurgents when the attack happened. Their boldness in the face of danger and the sacrifice they have made will be remembered."
The latest deaths came as David Miliband, the foreign secretary - visiting Kabul yesterday - renewed his call for Nato allies to do more, saying: "The burden [of fighting the Taliban] should be fairly shared."
Last year 108 British troops were killed in Afghanistan - more than for all the other non-American foreign forces put together.
Advertisement
Four British soldiers have died this year in Afghanistan, as well as Rupert Hamer, the Sunday Mirror defence correspondent. All were killed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs).
IEDs are proving by far the most effective weapon used by the Taliban. Allied firepower and the ability to call in Tornado jets and Apache helicopter gunships have made it almost impossible for the insurgents to win pitched battles on the ground.
Since the Taliban bombing campaign began in August 2007, 151 out of the 175 British troops killed in action have died from Taliban bombs.
Newly released figures show a further 155 were seriously wounded last year, compared with 65 in the whole of 2008.
The Headley Court rehabilitation centre in Surrey, which helps amputees and other seriously wounded soldiers to recover, dealt with 286 soldiers wounded in Afghanistan in the first 11 months of last year, more than twice the 132 treated in 2008.
Advertisement
A total of 249 British servicemen and women have died in Afghanistan, 216 of them in action.