Hundreds of British troops have seized key canal crossings in a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan as part of a new US-led operation in the region.
British troops launched an assault on a Taliban stronghold just north of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, two weeks ago after dropping 350 soldiers behind enemy lines in a major airlift.
The British push is part of a wider offensive launched by thousands of US Marine Corps troops yesterday.
The marines met little resistance on the first day of Operation Khanjar, the first big test of US President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilise Afghanistan.
Their objective is to seize virtually all of the lower Helmand River valley, the world's biggest opium poppy-producing region, and hold the ground they win, something British-led NATO troops have so far been unable to do.
Violence in the Taliban-led insurgency is at its highest since the Taliban's ouster in 2001 and the offensive in the short-term at least is meant to provide a secure environment for Afghan presidential elections.
Nearly 4,000 members of the US Marine Corps are taking part in the operation and Brigadier General Larry Nicholson said troops were now engaged in 'a hell of a fight' at the Helmand River town of Garmsir, after initially meeting little resistance.
Commanders said they would seek to persuade locals that Afghan security forces - backed by Western troops - offered them a better long-term future than the Taliban militia.
Yesterday, troops were flown into Garmsir and Nawa and quickly overran Khanishin further south where the Taliban had set up a proxy government and justice system.
Troops had yesterday destroyed a militant position in Garmsir, the commander said, after a nearly two-hour journey through the desert from Camp Dwyer.
