Britain says a roadside bomb has killed two of its soldiers in southern Afghanistan.
The country's Ministry of Defense says the soldiers had just completed a joint operation with Afghan and Danish forces in Helmand province when their vehicle hit the device. The ministry said the soldiers were due to return home in six days.
The deaths bring to 362 the number of British forces killed in Afghanistan since 2001. Britain has the second-largest foreign military contingent in Afghanistan, with about 10,000 troops.
Also Wednesday, Afghan officials said a NATO airstrike mistakenly killed a child and wounded two other civilians in the eastern province of Khost.
Local officials said coalition aircraft hit a civilian vehicle while targeting insurgents. NATO is investigating and said the airstrike targeted a leader of the Haqqani network. Two insurgents were reportedly killed and one wounded.
NATO said a civilian vehicle and two pedestrians appeared on the road at about the same moment that the airstrike hit the militants' car.
Civilian casualties caused by foreign troops have angered Afghan President Hamid Karzai and prompted apologies from the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus, and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
