Two British soldiers have been killed by roadside bomb attack on a convoy west of Baghdad.
The two members of the Irish Guards died shortly after midnight near the Rumaila oil fields. Two other soldiers were seriously injured.
In the April-July period, 30 British soldiers died in Iraq, making it the deadliest period since the 2003 invasion when Britain had nine times as many troops as the 5,500 it has deployed now.
One soldier was killed during a foot patrol on Tuesday, and another was shot while driving an armoured vehicle on Monday night.
The British have withdrawn from three of the four provinces they once patrolled, leaving troops only in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city.
In Basra they have pulled out of two of their three bases and are due to abandon the last city base in coming weeks and withdraw to an air base outside the city.
British commanders claim Shia militants are stepping up attacks to create the impression they are pushing the British out.