| With results like this we should provide maps and trail markers to the Talibs so that they can arrive at the right place ... |
With Marjah a main base for processing opium and training forces, the enemy put up a fierce fight as the commandos swept through a network of mud brick compounds. Fighting was at very close quarters with troops using pistols, machine guns and in one instance a £49,000 Javelin rocket to take out the enemy. They were also supported by Dutch F16 jets, British Apache attack helicopters and American Cobra helicopter gunships.
Only two commandos were injured during Operation Blue Sword compared to an estimated 200 to 300 Taliban wounded. It is believed that the enemy dead included a Mullah regarded as a “high value target” by the military.
The Taliban were said to have been so determined to hold onto the stronghold that reinforcements were called for from the Pakistan border 160 miles away.
“This was a very successful, deliberate joint operation that demonstrated clearly to the enemy that the Task Force continues to operate where and when it chooses,” said Lt Col Al Lister, chief of operations for Helmand Task Force. “Marjah has previously been a safe haven for the enemy; we have shattered that illusion and more will follow. We will continue to erode the capability."
“Marjah has long been a region that the insurgents claimed as their heartland, a place they felt secure and where they could gather, equip and train their forces,” the MoD said in a statement. “It was also where they moved and stored weapons and explosives, and where the links between the insurgents and narcotics trade have been at their strongest.”