The Helmand operation is the biggest undertaken by US marines since the Vietnam war [AFP]

The British defence ministry confirmed on Sunday that two of its soldiers had died in separate incidents in Gereshk district the previous day.

It was not immediately clear if the casualties were involved in the US offensive.

One of the soldiers died in a rocket-propelled grenade attack and the other when a suspected roadside bomb exploded, the ministry of defence said.

Elsewhere, at least 14 mine-clearing personnel working for the United Nations were abducted in the eastern Paktika province, officials said.

The US marine operation - dubbed Strike of the Sword - is aimed at seizing control of the lower Helmand valley, the world's largest opium producing region, from the Taliban.

'Little resistance'

At least 15 Taliban fighters have been killed in the Gereshk district, Afghan officials said.

Military officials have said that once the about 4,000 US marines, backed by 1 650-strong group of Afghan soldiers, have taken areas previously held by the Taliban  they will stay and secure them rather than pulling out as has been the policy before.

The US forces, backed by the Afghan national army, moved into Baramshar on Saturday after taking the main districts of Nawa and Garamsir, as well as Khananshid, the previous day, local officials said.

Barack Obama, the US president, had ordered 21,000 additional troops to Afghanistan and expects the total number of US forces to reach 68,000 by the end of 2009 in support of the offensive that started on Thursday.

Deminers abducted

The Afghan deminers, who were employed by the Mine Detection and Dog Centre (MDC), were taken as they worked in the eastern Paktika province.

"Fourteen workers of MDC demining organisation who were busy serving the Afghan nation were kidnapped by unknown gunmen in Tandan area of Gardez pass," Zemarai Bashary, the interior ministry spokesman, said.

Azizullah Wardak, Paktika's police chief, said they were seized as they were travelling towards Khost province.

While the Taliban is known to operate in the area, Wardak could not confirm if they were responsible for the kidnapping, but he did criticise the deminers for going into the area without informing the police.

However, Bashary said that three men had been arrested over the case  and efforts were under way to secure the deminers' release.

Afghanistan is one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, and the increase in violence amid a thriving Taliban insurgency has slowed clearance work.

Two-thirds of the country's mines have been cleared over the past two decades with the rest expected to be removed by 2013, but experts fear Afghanistan can no longer meet that goal because of increased fighting and a drop in international funding.

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