LONDON (AFP) - Two British soldiers were killed when a roadside bomb hit their armoured vehicle in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry in London said. The soldiers from the 1st The Queen's Dragoons Guards were on a security patrol in the Yakchal region of Nahr-e Saraj, in troubled Helmand province when they were killed, it said in a statement. Their deaths bring to 388 the number of British troops killed since operations in Afghanistan began in October 2001. Of these, at least 343 were killed in combat. They are the 39th and 40th British soldiers to die this year in Afghanistan.