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US-led troops face resistance in Marjah operation
[Dawn] Thousands of US-led troops fighting to capture a key Taliban bastion in Afghanistan risked becoming bogged down on Tuesday, running into resistance from mortars and scores of buried bombs."We are advancing slowly because areas have been mined," Afghan army chief of staff Besmillah Khan said on the fourth day of the massive offensive on Marjah, in the opium heartland of the southern province of Helmand. Meanwhile, Nato said three Afghan civilians have been killed during the assault in southern Afghanistan, bringing to at least 12 the number killed during the operation. The men died in separate incidents in Helmand province on Sunday and Monday. Two men were shot Sunday after being mistaken for militants in the crossfire between a joint Afghan-ISAF patrol and insurgents, the military said. One of the men subsequently died of his injuries. "The two men were initially believed to be insurgents. However the initial investigation suggests the men were caught in the crossfire between insurgents and the joint force," ISAF said. Another man was shot dead by ISAF forces on Sunday, after failing to heed warnings to stop when approaching troops, and another man shot dead in a similar incident on Monday, the military said. A massive force of 15,000 Afghan, US and NATO troops are taking part in Operation Mushtarak ("Together" in Dari), seeking to drive out militants. Thousands of people from at least 1,240 families have fled the area around Marjah, a cluster of villages with a population of about 80,000, and are sheltering with friends and relatives, said the provincial government. While death tolls are impossible to confirm independently, officials have said that 30 Taliban, two NATO soldiers and at least 12 Afghan civilians have been killed in the Marjah battle. Limiting civilian casualties is key to winning hearts and minds in the operation against a Taliban force estimated at up to 1,000 fighters. Remote-controlled bombs have hampered the progress of the assault in an area controlled for years by militants and drug lords. "Hundreds of mines have been discovered in different areas," Khan said, referring to improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, which are the principal killer of foreign troops in Afghanistan. "We are definitely finding more than we expected," said Lieutenant Josh Diddams, of Taskforce Leatherneck, adding: "It's a slow process." Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, who commands the Marines in southern Afghanistan, expected the operation to last for 30 days, Diddams said. An Afghan army officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that troops were meeting "more than a little resistance" inside Marjah from Taliban armed with anti-aircraft guns, rocket-propelled grenades and 82mm mortars. The Red Cross said IEDs planted on roads were preventing casualties from getting to hospital in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, 20 kilometres (12 miles) away from Marjah. A NATO air strike elsewhere in Helmand killed a Taliban commander known as Sarraj-Uddin, said to have coordinated foreigners fighting for the militia, and four Arab fighters, the provincial government said. But the Taliban sought to compete with the Western and Afghan militaries who have journalists "embedded" in units, inviting journalists on Tuesday to tour the battle lines to witness the assault "with their own eyes".
Posted by: Fred 2010-02-17 |
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