Two UK soldiers die in bomb blast

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The soldiers from the 1st Battalion Irish Guards were killed when an improvised explosive device (IED) detonated next to their patrol. Another two soldiers were seriously injured in the attacks.

The Ministry of Defence said that the soldiers were travelling in a convoy to the north Rumaylah oil fields, west of the southern Iraqi city of Basra.

News of the latest casualties came as the MoD released the name of a British serviceman killed in the city on Tuesday night.

Leading Aircraftman Martin Beard, 20, of No 1 Squadron Royal Air Force Regiment was shot during a routine foot patrol in the Al Waki district north of the British Base at Basra Airport.

On Monday, Private Craig Barber, 20, of 2nd Battalion The Royal Welsh, died after coming under attack from small arms fire in the Al Fursi district of the city.

The deaths bring the total number of British service personnel who have died in the country since the 2003 invasion to 168.

Despite the casualties, the UK military have rejected suggestions from the US that the UK had effectively lost control of the southern city.

British troops are in the process of withdrawing from the Basra Palace base in the centre of the city and are planning to consolidate their forces at their large airport base.

The number of troops has already been reduced from 44,000 to 5,500 and those are now almost exclusively based at Basra airport amid preparations for control to be handed to Iraqi authorities.