A sombre Gordon Brown issued a passionate defence of UK involvement in Afghanistan today, declaring that the people of Britain were safer because of the sacrifices of their soldiers.

Speaking after the news emerged of two more deaths in Helmand and as the corpses of five soldiers were flown home to the UK, the Prime Minister said that the country owed it to those who had given their lives to succeed in the action it had started.

With his voice faltering, Mr Brown voiced his deepest sympathy to the families of those who have been killed in recent days, accepting that it is "a very hard summer, and it is not over".

But at a press conference winding up the G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, he said: "Our resolution to complete the work we have started is undiminished. It is in tribute to the members of our forces who have given their lives that we should succeed in the efforts we have begun."

Earlier, the Ministry of Defence announced that two more British soldiers had been killed in southern Afghanistan, bringing the death toll to nine in nine days - the most sustained loss of life in either the Afghan or Iraqi campaigns.

The Ministry of Defence said that the two troopers were killed yesterday in separate incidents in Helmand Province, where battle groups are engaged in a major offensive against Taleban insurgents.

In the first incident, yesterday afternoon, a soldier from 4th Battalion The Rifles was killed in an explosion whilst on a foot patrol near Nad Ali.

Yesterday evening a soldier from Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment attached to 1st Battalion Welsh Guards was killed as a result of a gunshot wound in an firefight with insurgent forces near Laskhar Gah.

The MoD said that the incident took place as part of Operation Panchai Palang - Panther's Claw - a major assault against the Taleban ahead of next month's Afghan elections.

Since Operation Panther’s Claw was launched in mid-June, 10 soldiers have been killed, including four from the Welsh Guards.

Mr Brown rejected criticism from General Lord Guthrie, former chief of the defence staff, that his refusal to send more troops and equipment to Afghanistan was to blame for the recent casualties.

He insisted that the number of troops had risen from 8,100 earlier this year to 9,000 and the number now was substantially higher than two and three years ago. "We have played our part in increasing the capability of the whole alliance force in Afghanistan."

On the charge that the forces had not been given enough helicopter support, Mr Brown maintained that many more aircraft had been sent, that there was now twice as much helicopter capacity in Helmand than two years ago and that more Merlins and Ridgeback craft would be sent later in the year.

"We have responded to the requirements of the military for extra equipment," he said."We have spent over £1 billion on 1,000 new vehicles to protect our troops."

Mr Brown said the last 10 days had been extraordinarily difficult time for the forces there and it was at such a time that the people of Britain understood the sacrifices that were being made.

He said: "We knew from the start that defeating the insurgency in Helmand would be hard and dangerous but it is vital."

Mr Brown held talks yesterday with President Obama and Sir Jock Stirrup, Chief of the Defence Staff, about the latest developments. He said: "We cannot allow southern Afghanistan and the border areas to remain lawless places sheltering terrorism and the drugs trade."

He added: "There is a chain of terror running from the mountains and plains of southern Afghanistan and Pakistan to the towns and streets of Britain. People in Britain today are safer because of the courageous sacrifice of British soldiers"

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