Roadside bomb kills two British soldiers on patrol

TWO British servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb as they patrolled close to Nato's main airbase in southern Afghanistan yesterday, the Ministry of Defence said today.

The pair, members of the RAF Regiment, died when the vehicle they were travelling in hit the device about 1.5 miles from Kandahar Airfield.

Two other UK servicemen were wounded in the blast but are not believed to have life-threatening injuries.

All next of kin have been informed, an MoD spokesman said. The deaths take the number of British military personnel killed in Afghanistan since the anti-Taliban war was launched in 2001 to 93.

The four servicemen were taking part in a routine patrol to the west of the airfield when their vehicle hit the device.

They were treated at the scene before being taken to the field hospital inside the base.

"Sadly, despite the best efforts of the medical team, two of the servicemen died as a result of their wounds," an MoD spokesman said.

Brigadier General Carlos Branco, of the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), said: "Our most sincere thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the soldiers who died."