British deaths in Afghanistan surpass toll in Iraq

LONDON, England (CNN) - The British military marked a grim milestone Friday as the number of troops killed in Afghanistan surpassed the death toll in Iraq.

An especially bloody 10 days in Afghanistan's troubled Helmand province claimed 15 British lives, putting the total number of dead in that conflict at 184, the Defense Ministry said. The British military has lost 179 soldiers in Iraq.

Five soldiers were killed Friday in two explosions that rocked the same patrol near the town of Sangin in Helmand province, where British troops are based. The Defence Ministry earlier announced the deaths of three other soldiers in Helmand.

British troops have joined with roughly 4,000 U.S. Marines and sailors, and several hundred Afghan security forces, in Operation Khanjar, a drive to secure Helmand before Afghanistan's presidential elections in August.