**Two more UK soldiers have been killed in Helmand province in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said.**One soldier was killed in a contact explosion and in a second incident, a soldier died from a gunshot wound. Their next of kin have been informed.
The soldiers were from 4th Battalion The Rifles and Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment
The deaths on Thursday bring the number of UK soldiers killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 178.
The deaths are the latest in several of the campaign’s bloodiest days of fighting, with nine soldiers killed in nine days.