ROME, May 17 (Reuters) - Two Italian soldiers were killed and two others seriously wounded when their convoy struck a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, the Italian army said on Monday.

The convoy hit the bomb while on its way from the western city of Herat to Bala Murghab in the north, the army said.

Military deaths in Afghanistan in the past have prompted calls from Italy to pull out and a poll last year showed a majority of Italians want their troops to leave. [ID:nLI157515]

Italy has about 2,400 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly deployed in the western part of the country that is less violent than other areas in the south and the east.

The mission has benefited from being seen as a humanitarian operation, but a rising number of casualties has raised comparisons with the war in Iraq.

Italy's commitment to the U.S-led war in Iraq wavered after 19 troops were killed there in a single attack in 2003. It pulled out of Iraq completely in 2006. (Reporting by Deepa Babington; Editing by Dominic Evans)

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