London - Ceremonies took place across Britain and Ireland on Sunday to remember the servicemen and women who lost their lives in armed conflict.

Queen Elizabeth II led Remembrance Sunday events by laying a traditional poppy wreath at the Cenotaph in London's Whitehall.

Remembrance services, which take place on the Sunday closest to November 11, the date of the end of World War I, this year fall two days before the 90th anniversary of the end of that conflict.

Military performances are due to take place in London's Trafalgar Square to commemorate the anniversary.

The war dead were also commemorated in Cardiff, Edinburgh and Belfast, as well as in other cities and towns across Britain and Ireland.

A ceremony took place in the British Army's base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Thirty-nine British service personnel have died in Afghanistan since last year's Remembrance Sunday. (dpa)