US Marines under fire in former Taliban stronghold

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* Soldiers say offensive as intense as in Fallujah
* Marines exchange mortar fire with militants
* NATO rockets kill 12 civilians

MARJAH: US Marines came under intense fire on Sunday after taking over a building in the heart of a Taliban stronghold targeted by a NATO-led offensive designed to put the Afghan government back in charge.

Taliban fighters unleashed automatic gunfire at NATO helicopters flying in and out of the town of Marjah, and fired on Marines at a ceremony to raise the Afghan flag over a building to mark progress in the offensive.

As intense: Captain Ryan Sparks compared the intensity of the fighting to the US-led offensive against militants in the Iraqi town of Fallujah in 2004.

“In Fallujah, it was just as intense. But there, we started from the north and worked down to the south. In Marjah, we’re coming in from different locations and working toward the centre, so we’re taking fire from all angles,” Sparks said.

Unlike Fallujah, the Marjah assault aims to eliminate militants while building goodwill for Afghan forces who will take over the area.

On Saturday Marines in helicopters landed in Marjah district, the last big Taliban stronghold in Helmand province, at the start of a campaign to impose government control on rebel-held areas before US forces start a planned 2011 drawdown.

Exchanging fire: US forces fired mortar rounds against a Taliban position on Sunday, and the militants fired a round back, which landed in the Marines’ compound but failed to explode. The Marines responded by firing rockets at the suspected militant position.

A senior Afghan army general in southern Afghanistan, Sher Muhammad Zazai, told Reuters on Sunday that between 30 to 35 insurgents had been killed since the operation in Marjah and the nearby Nad Ali districts started.

Citing commanders, Taliban spokesman Qari Mohammad Yousuf said on the group’s website that it had launched direct attacks on NATO-led troops in several parts of Marjah and had surrounded some in one area.

Civilian casualties: NATO said two rockets fired at insurgents missed their target and killed 12 civilians. Gen Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, has apologised to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the accident.

Karzai had issued a statement minutes earlier saying 10 members of the same family died when a rocket hit a house, AP reported. agencies


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