Taliban repel British assault in south Afghanistan

Peter Graff, Reuters

British Marines attacked a Taliban-held valley in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday but withdrew after a ferocious counterattack that withstood air strikes and artillery fire, witnesses said. One Royal Marine was killed and a second wounded during the battle, the UK Helmand Task Force (UKTF) said. Scores of soldiers ran across a bridge over the Helmand River under a full moon shortly before daybreak and began sweeping south through wheatfields in the south of the province, the opium centre of the world's major producer. A Reuters cameraman said the Marines initially faced only sporadic resistance but when they advanced, Taliban fighters launched a ferocious, organised riposte with heavy weapons and tried to outflank the British troops. The Taliban withstood barrages of air strikes from Apache helicopters, 500 pound bombs dropped by B1 bombers and withering cannon fire from A-10 attack jets before the British finally withdrew after a 10-hour battle...

continua / continued