LONDON, July 10 (Xinhua) -- British Ministry of Defense announced on Friday that two more British soldiers had been killed in separate incidents in southern Afghanistan.

    A spokesman from the ministry said the first was killed in an explosion while on foot patrol near Nad e-Ali in Helmand Province on Thursday afternoon.

    The other soldier died from a gunshot wound, he said. He was shot following a battle with insurgents near Lashkar Gah in Helmand on Thursday night.

    British Prime Minister Gordon Brown admitted at the G8 Summit in Italy that "The last 10 days have been extraordinarily difficult for our forces in Afghanistan."

    "Our thoughts are with the family of those who have lost their lives," he said. It was a "very hard summer" and it "was not over," he added.

    The deaths of the two soldiers came as the bodies of five other British soldiers killed in Afghanistan were flown back to Britain.

    The number of British troops who have died in the conflict now stands at 178.