London - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday in London that he does not see security worsening in Afghanistan, even as the British death toll in the conflict rose to 124.

"Violence is not getting worse. It is the same level as it was for the past year or two. The whole effort is to make it better and to bring violence down," he said.

Karzai's comments came after he met Prime Minister Gordon Brown for talks on reconstruction and regional arrangements. Karzai was in London to participate in celebrations to mark the 60th birthday of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne.

The talks coincided with confirmation that two British marines were killed when their patrol vehicle was struck by an explosion in the Garmsir district of Helmand province Wednesday.

The deaths bring the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan to 124. Taken together with Iraq, British lives lost in the two conflicts reached 300 Thursday, the BBC said.

The news came as an opinion poll showed Thursday that 68 per cent of Britons want troops to come home within 12 months. The proportion of women advocating a withdrawal was 75 per cent, while 59 per cent of the men asked wanted the troops to return.

The greatest opposition to the war came from young people aged between 18 and 24, a break-down of the results showed, according to the BBC.

While there has been little public protest in Britain over the deployment in Afghanistan, widespread disaffection with military involvement in Iraq has become clear.

Britain currently has 8,000 troops in southern Afghanistan, and is likely to come under pressure to boost its contingent when the new US administration takes over in January.

However, a British government spokesman said Thursday that the talks between Brown and Karzai had focused on how British operations in southern Afghanistan could be enhanced without necessarily sending more troops.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband indicated recently that Britain expected other NATO countries to take a bigger share of the burden in any future US-led "surge" in Afghanistan.

"As the second-largest contributor to troops in Afghanistan, the first thing we say is that we don't want to bear an unfair share of the burden," he said.

A government spokesman said Brown and Karzai also discussed the strategic situation in the region, as economic problems and unrest were mounting in neighbouring Pakistan.

Reports said Karzai also planned to brief Brown on a series of confidential meetings between the Afghan government and emissaries of the Taliban and other insurgent groups.

Although the British government denies involvement in any negotiations with the Taliban, direct contact with the insurgents has taken place, the Independent newspaper said Thursday.

Meanwhile, the human rights group Amnesty International Thursday called on the Afghan government to repeal the death sentences against 111 people who are on death row.

In a statement released in London Thursday, Amnesty said it feared that the reported executions of nine people since last week would be followed by further death sentences being carried out.

"The sudden rush in executions is of serious concern, given that Afghanistan's fledgling justice system is largely incapable of providing fair and sound trials," said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director.

He urged the authorities to impose an immediate moratorium on all executions in Afghanistan, "with a view to abolishing the use of this horrific punishment." (dpa)