Two British soldiers have been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence said today.
The soldiers, one from the 29 Command Regiment Royal Artillery and the other from 45 Commando Royal Marines, died last night during an operation against Taliban forces northeast of Gereshk in Helmand province.
The deaths bring the total number of British troops killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 US-led invasion to 141.
Britain has around 8,000 troops based in Afghanistan, most of them in Helmand where they have been involved in fierce fighting.
Earlier today, defence secretary John Hutton urged Britain's European Nato partners to show greater commitment to the war in Afghanistan, saying they could not leave all the military work to the United States.
US president-elect Barack Obama, who takes office next week, is expected to send up to 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan to tackle the Taliban insurgency. The United States already has more than 30,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, out of a total foreign force there of more than 65,000 from over 40 countries.
Britain has the second biggest force, more than twice as many troops as Germany, France and Italy.