British soldiers killed in Afghanistan

US-led forces bombed Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan yesterday after two British soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were killed in an attack on a base.

The US-led force has in recent weeks launched a major offensive in the volatile south aimed at stemming the worst Taliban violence since the hardline Islamists were ousted in 2001 for refusing to give up Osama bin Laden.

The violence comes as Nato prepares to take over security responsibilities from the US-led force in the south in what looks set to be the alliance's toughest ever ground mission.

A helicopter also crashed yesterday near the main foreign military base outside the southern city of Kandahar but there was no immediate word on casualties, military officials said.

The two British soldiers were killed on Saturday night in the Sangin district of the southern province of Helmand, where more than 3,000 British troops are based.

"We can confirm that two British soldiers... were killed in action in Sangin yesterday when their base came under small arms and rocket-propelled grenade attack," a spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence in London said yesterday.

Four British soldiers were wounded in the attack on the base in Sangin town.

Five British soldiers have been killed in recent weeks, two in Sangin last Tuesday.

British forces were deployed to Helmand this year but are facing much stiffer resistance than expected.

A Taliban commander, Mullah Rahim Rahmani, said by telephone his men had launched the attack.

More than 1,100 people, most of them militants, have been killed in Afghanistan since January. About 50 foreign troops have been killed.

Helmand provincial police chief Nabi Mullahakhail said aircraft from the US-led coalition launched four bombing raids against the Taliban in the area yesterday killing nine insurgents.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said 12 Taliban gathering for an attack were killed in fighting with Afghan troops in Sangin on Saturday night. It was not immediately clear if those insurgents were responsible for the attack on the British base.

The British troops in Helmand are for now part of the US-led force but they will come under the command of the separate Nato force at the end of the month. Nato troops are pushing into areas where no foreign or government troops have been, and where the Taliban - and their drug-gang allies - hold sway.

The US-led force has launched a major offensive, codenamed "Operation Mountain Thrust", ahead of the Nato expansion from the generally peaceful capital, the north and west.

The British commander of the Nato force, Lieutenant-General David Richards, said on Thursday the international community had underestimated a resurgent Taliban, partly because the war in Iraq diverted attention and resources.

Nevertheless, Lt Gen. Richards said he was optimistic the insurgency could be tackled. He said his troops aimed to establish zones of security to foster development as part of the strategy to defeat the militants.

British Defence Secretary Des Browne said the Taliban were trying to block Afghanistan's reconsutruction.