KABUL, July 05, SPA -- A roadside bomb and a rocket-propelled grenade in southern Afghanistan killed two Britishsoldiers, while gunmen in the east abducted 16mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations,officials said Sunday. The attacks that killed the British troops in Helmandprovince's Gereshk district came as thousands of U.S. Marines pour into the Taliban's southern heartland, in thebiggest U.S. military offensive operation in Afghanistansince the toppling of the militants in 2001. It wasn't clear if the British casualties were involved inthe Marine operation taking place in the same province. Britain's Ministry of Defense said both attacks took placenear Gereshk in Helmand province on Saturday. Earlier theNATO-led force said the two had died in a single incident. It was not immediately clear what caused the discrepancy inthe accounts, The Associated Press reported.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/681403