Roadside bombs kill two soldiers in Afghanistan

The total number of UK personnel killed in Afghanistan since 2001 is 253.

Roadside bombs have killed two British soldiers in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The soldiers, from 3rd Battalion, The Yorkshire Regiment, were on foot patrol near Malgir, in Helmand province, when two bombs went off on Monday morning.

No further details have been released about the soldiers, who were serving as part of the 1 Coldstream Guards Battle Group. Their families have been told.

A total of 253 UK forces personnel have been killed in Afghanistan since 2001.

That is just two fewer than were killed during the Falklands War in 1982.

Lt Col David Wakefield, spokesman for Task Force Helmand, said comrades would remember the soldiers' "resolute bravery and sacrifice".

'More casualties'

Malgir is between Babaji and Gereshk, an area where much of the British effort has been focused during the past year.

Nato's civilian representative in Afghanistan, the former British Ambassador in Kabul Mark Sedwill, warned there would be "many more casualties" in a BBC interview on Sunday.

He said soldiers would be needed in a combat role for up to five more years and could be training Afghan forces for "a decade or more".

Last week, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown set a deadline of mid-2011 to "turn the tide" against the Taliban.

He also announced plans to reintegrate some of the insurgents into society.