LONDON/KABUL: British, Afghan and coalition forces captured four key Taleban strongholds in southern Afghanistan during a massive operation that saw them fight at close quarters, knee-deep in mud, it emerged on Sunday.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense released details of the operation, which was fought over 18 days around the town of Nad-e-Ali in Helmand province and left five members of the British forces and around 100 Taleban dead.
More than 1,500 troops were involved, making it one of the largest operations mounted by the Royal Marines since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. It culminated in a battle on Dec. 25, Christmas Day.
“Almost every day we were involved in intense firefights ranging from rocket-propelled grenades and small arms ‘shoot-and-scoots’ to four-hour battles with the enemy forces as close as 30 meters,” said Capt. David Glendenning, commander of the marines’ artillery support team. Some of the marines had to trudge more than 60 km through mud while fighting insurgents, the Defense Ministry said.
One soldier, a lance corporal and signaler with the 77th Armored Engineer Squadron, said: “I was in Nad-e-Ali for just over two weeks... Some of the places we stayed in were a nightmare - sleeping in the mud was the worst. “(At times) we were exposed and moving ahead of our infantry protection. It felt like we were being watched and it was difficult to tell who the enemy was — it was pretty scary.”
The ministry said the operation, named Sond Chara was aimed at improving security in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah, ahead of a voter registration program due to start early this year. It involved Danish, Estonian and Afghan troops, and saw the marines at one point fight hand-to-hand in a “360-degree battle,” the ministry said.
The deaths during the operation of four British servicemen and an Australian serving with the British forces were announced at the time. Another Australian soldier was killed in Afghanistan during a Taleban rocket attack, the Defense Department said yesterday.
The soldier was killed on Sunday when a rocket exploded in a compound in Uruzgan where a group of Australian troops was stationed, Defense Force Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston told reporters.
Afghanistan is likely to face a similar level of violence this year after a bloody 2008 but security forces will be in a better position to fight back, the Defense Ministry said.
