TWO British soldiers were killed and four were injured when Taleban rebels tried to storm their base in southern Afghanistan.

An Afghan interpreter was also killed in the attack, which happened late on Saturday. It brought the number of British soldiers killed in three weeks to five. All died in the district of Sangin, in Helmand province.

“We can confirm with regret that two British soldiers were killed,” Captain Drew Gibson, a spokesman for British forces in Helmand, said. “Their base came under attack.”

The dead have not yet been named. The condition of the four injured in the attack was thought to be stable.

The troops were part of the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment and were staying in what are called platoon houses — usually police stations or government buildings that are reinforced with sandbags and barbed wire — which are more vulnerable to attack than conventional bases.

It is believed that those killed were on the perimeter, providing security, when rebels opened fire with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. It was the third night in a row that the base had been attacked, but the only one with British casualties.

“The first two [nights] it was fairly minor,” Captain Gibson said. “Last night [Saturday] was a fairly concentrated attack.”

The Taleban immediately claimed responsibility. Speaking on a satellite phone from an undisclosed location, Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, who claimed to be a Taleban spokesman, told The Times: “In the Sangin battle my forces surrounded them and they had a lack of ammunition.”

The Army could not confirm how many Taleban were killed, but Ghulan Nabi Malakhail, the province’s police chief, said that it was 12 and that the fighting had raged for two hours.

The bulk of the 3,300-strong British force is at Camp Bastion near Lashgar Gah, about 100 miles (160km) to the south.

Sangin is the most dangerous district in Helmand. In addition, conditions are difficult, with no paved roads and daytime temperatures rising to nearly 50C (122F).

One British officer told The Times that no one entered the area without a complete complement of ammunition. “It’s pretty fruity,” he said. There is increasing concern that the decision to send troops so early might have stretched the force too thinly. Nato military planners in Kabul are looking anxiously at the level of violence to which the British troops are being subjected.

At present the soldiers are part of the US Operation Enduring Freedom mission, which is focused on counter- insurgency campaigns rather than peace-support and reconstruction. But the British will come under Nato command on July 31, when the strategy is expected to change.

Taleban rebels in Sangin killed 32 civilians on June 18. Five were initially killed in an ambush and accused by the rebels of working for the Government. When relatives went to collect the bodies, the Taleban killed a further 27 and took 10 hostage. It is believed that before the British arrived the area was under the control of the Taleban.

British troops have been involved in almost daily skirmishes with Taleban rebels in Operation Mountain Thrust, which began on June 15. The operation involves 11,000 troops, including more than 3,000 Britons, who are seeking out and hunting down Taleban rebels across the Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul.

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