More than 1,000 UK troops participating in a Nato offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan have secured their objectives amid scattered resistance, a British military spokesman said Saturday. Major General Gordon Messenger told reporters at Britain's Ministry of Defence that the British forces "have successfully secured the area militarily" with only sporadic resistance from Taliban forces.
He said "low numbers" of rebels had been killed during the attacks - but that efforts by British troops in the area of Chah-e-Anjir had been successful. One British soldier from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards was killed by an explosion while on vehicle patrol in Nad-e-Ali District of Helmand province, the Ministry of Defence said.
British troops are among the thousands of Nato and Afghan soldiers who stormed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah by air and ground Saturday. The massive offensive is aimed at establishing Afghan government authority over the biggest southern town under militant control and breaking the Taliban grip over a wide area of their southern heartland.
Messenger said the assault had so far gone "as well as it could have done" but added that "everyone understands this is the easy bit." "The hard bit is what comes next in reassuring the public," he said. He was unable to say whether British forces suffered any casualties in the advance.
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