US forces face resistance in clash with Taliban

(WARNING): Article contains propaganda!

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US-led NATO forces have launched a major operation in the southern Afghan town of Marjah where they are facing resistance from Taliban insurgents.

The assault started before dawn on Saturday with airborne attacks involved 4,500 US Marines, 1,500 Afghan troops and 300 US soldiers.

"At 0230 this morning (2200 GMT Friday), helicopters inserted combined forces into Marjah town," said Lieutenant Josh Diddams, spokesman for the US Marines at Taskforce Leatherneck in Helmand.

An Afghan army commander announced that five Taliban militants were killed in the first hours of the assault codenamed "Mushtarak" in the town of Marjah, a major Taliban stronghold.

The operation, the first since US President Barack Obama ordered 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan in December, is a major test of Obama's strategy to end the eight-year war against the Taliban.

"Marjah is a place of fear, panic and terrorism," Brig. Gen. Mahayoodin Ghoori, the Afghan battlefield commander, said before the offensive. "The people are tired of the people controlling Marjah. We are returning the people to their normal life."

Earlier a local Taliban commander, Qari Fazluddin, had told Reuters that about 2,000 militants were ready to fight in Marjah, a town considered to be the Taliban's last big stronghold in Afghanistan.

The group says it has already started launching mortars, killing at least 25 foreign troops in fresh attacks.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=118517§ionid=351020403.