Two British soldiers killed in Afghan attack

KABUL, July 2 (Reuters) Two British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in an attack on their base in the south of the country, the latest clash in the bloodiest phase of violence since the militants were ousted in 2001.

The two were killed in the volatile Sangin district of Helmand province, 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 RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) attack,'' a spokesman for Britain's Ministry of Defence in London said today.

Five British soldiers have been killed since UK forces were deployed to Helmand in recent months, where they are facing much stiffer resistance than expected.

Two British soldiers were killed in the same part of the province on Tuesday.

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 an Afghan interpreter was also killed in the attack on the British.

A Taliban commander, Mullah Rahim Rahmani, said by telephone his men had attacked the British.

The Afghan Defence Ministry said 12 Taliban gathering for an attack were killed in fighting with Afghan troops in Sangin last night.

It was not immediately clear if those insurgents were responsible for the attack on the British base.

Aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition launched four bombing raids against the Taliban in the area on Sunday, Mullahakhail said. There was no information on Taliban casualties, he said.

The British troops in Helmand are for now part of a US-led force but they will come under the command of a separate NATO force at the end of the month when NATO takes over in the south.

It is set to be the alliance's toughest ground mission in its history.

The U S-led force has launched a major offensive, codenamed ''Operation Mountain Thrust'', to press deep into the south ahead of the NATO takeover.

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.

The Taliban were ousted for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. They are fighting to expel foreign troops and defeat the Western-backed government.

REUTERS SB RN1346