[Dawn] US Marine and Afghan units pressed deeper into the Taliban haven of Marjah on Monday, facing sporadic rocket and mortar fire as they moved through suspected insurgent neighbourhoods on the third day of a Nato offensive to reclaim the southern Afghan town.Convoys, mine-rollers and armoured trucks rolled down unpaved alleys with an escort of Marine snipers and infantrymen to protect them from insurgent fire.
Troops braced for the estimated 2.5-mile march to link up with US and Afghan troops who had been airdropped into town. A day earlier, small squads of Taliban snipers initiated several gun-battles throughout the day in an attempt to draw coalition forces into a larger ambush.
The massive offensive involving some 15,000 US, Afghan, British troops is the biggest joint operation since the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
Allied officials have reported two coalition deaths so far -- one American and one Briton, who were both killed Saturday. Afghan officials said at least 27 insurgents have been killed in the offensive.
In unrelated incidents in southern Afghanistan, Nato said two service members died Sunday -- one from small-arms fire and the other from a roadside bomb explosion.
The international force did not disclose their nationalities, but the British defence ministry reported that a British soldier died Sunday of wounds suffered in an explosion.
Afghan commander: Taliban strongholds under control
A top Afghan commander says that US-led forces and Afghan soldiers took control of most Taliban-held areas two days into their offensive. A total of 15,000 troops assaulted the Marjah and Nad Ali districts of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan to target Taliban militants. "All of the areas of Marjah and Nad Ali have been taken by the combined forces. They are under our control, almost all of Nad Ali and Marjah," General Aminullah Patiani, the Afghan Army's senior commander, said Monday.
Most of the militants have left the battlefield but the threat of bombs they might have planted still exists, the commander added. Seven foreign soldiers have been reported killed since Operation Moshtarak was launched before dawn on Saturday.
The Saturday offensive came weeks after the Afghan president's US-backed government offered reconciliation with members of the Taliban. However, the Taliban rejected the offer, saying that Karzai's peace offer was prompted by the militants' spreading influence. NATO has said in a statement the goal of the US-led offensive is to coerce Taliban into joining the Afghan government.
NATO offensive kills 12 Taliban: Afghan official
[Al Arabiya Latest] Twelve Taliban fighters were killed overnight in a NATO offensive against the group's last stronghold in Afghanistan's most violent province, a provincial government official said.The assault, one of NATO's biggest against the Taliban since the Afghan war began in 2001, is the first test of U.S. President Barack Obama's plan to send 30,000 more troops to seize insurgent-held areas ahead of a planned 2011 troop drawdown.
"There were bombardments in parts of Marjah and as a result 12 Taliban have been killed," Dawud Ahmadi, a spokesman for the provincial governor of Helmand, told reporters.
Much of the success of the operation in Helmand province depends on whether the new administration wins the trust of the local population and Afghan troops are effective enough to keep the Taliban from returning.
Civilians have already expressed doubts that Afghan troops can keep control of the district if the Taliban are cleared.
At a meeting with government authorities close to Marjah, some 200 villagers urged the regional government to persuade NATO-led troops to remain in Marjah once they secure the area, Ahmadi said.
"They said that the Afghan forces do not have the ability to keep control of the area," Ahmadi said.