Kabul, July 10 (DPA) Two British troops and at least two militants were killed in fighting in Afghanistan, the British and US militaries said Friday.
The British soldiers died Thursday in Helmand province, taking to 178 the total number of British military fatalities in Afghanistan, the ministry of defence said in London.
The news came as relatives were preparing for the return of the bodies of five British soldiers killed in Afghanistan over the past week to RAF Lyneham, an air force base in the south-western county of Wiltshire.
Meanwhile, Afghan and coalition troops captured six suspected militants, including two commanders of the Pakistan-based Haqqani network, a militant group associated with the Taliban, in two raids Thursday night in Khost province, the US military said in a statement.
It said one of the commanders was involved in smuggling suicide attackers, foreign fighters and weapons into neighbouring Afghanistan.
The raids took place at two compounds 10 km southwest of Khost city after intelligence indicated militant activity at those locations, the statement said.
In Ghazni province, several militants were killed Thursday night after they opened fire on troops arriving to raid a compound in the Giro district, another US statement said. Some militants who fled the raid were also killed.
The US military said the aim of the operation was to disrupt the Taliban’s operational and logistical support network for ambushes.
