Two British soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment were killed near Basra, southern Iraq on Saturday night, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced yesterday.
A third soldier was wounded after a roadside bomb exploded just outside the main southern Iraqi city. The MoD said he was in a serious, but not critical condition.
It added that the soldiers were on routine patrol in an armoured Land Rover when the device exploded at 2345 local time on Saturday.
The deaths bring to 111 the number of British troop fatalities in Iraq since the March 2003 US-led invasion of the country.
The next of kin of all three soldiers have been informed.
Meanwhile, five roadside bombs were exploded in Baghdad, and two car bombs exploded near the airport, killing at least 26 Iraqis and wounding many more.
The two cars carrying explosives were detonated at the main civilian entrance to the zone that contains the airport and the US military headquarters. Initial reports said 14 people had been killed.
Two bodyguards died in an attack on the Iraqi foreign minister’s convoy in the north of the city.
However, puppet Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari was not in the convoy at the time.
Also, a police patrol hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad’s northern district of Adhamiyah killing three policemen and wounding thirteen people, including ten pedestrians and five policemen.
