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THE Taliban were in disarray last night after their Helmand province leader surrendered — fearing the SBS was about to kill him.

Taliban fighters have claimed the lives of five British servicemen in the past 10 days in Helmand province. Now Sky News chief news correspondent Stuart Ramsay has had first hand evidence of the risks members of the Parachute Regiment are facing while on patrol with the Pathfinder unit. A "Jackal" fighting vehicle crunches its way through dried out poppy fields in Northern Helmand. The harvest is finished and the money from opium crops is being distributed - traditionally in June it heralds the start of intense fighting with the Taliban and this year is proving to be no different. The...

Three British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, bringing the number of dead to 100. The three soldiers from 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment were on a routine foot patrol in the Upper Sangin Valley in Helmand Province on Sunday when a suicide bomber struck. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: "Four soldiers were injured in the attack and were evacuated to the medical facility at Camp Bastion. "Sadly, one soldier was pronounced dead on arrival and despite the best efforts of the medical team, two of the soldiers died as a result of their wounds. "A fourth soldier is...

WASHINGTON, May 4, 2008 – Coalition forces killed an undetermined number of militants and detained 29 in Afghanistan's Helmand and Khowst provinces over the past two days. In Helmand province, coalition forces were conducing searches of several compounds in the Reg District yesterday when militants engaged them with small-arms fire. Coalition forces returned fire, killing an undetermined number of attackers and later detaining 22 militants accused of conducting anti-government operations. The soldiers also found several AK-47 rifles, ammunition vests, ammunition, mines, artillery shells, bomb-making materials and grenades. They were destroyed or removed. In Khowst, Afghan and coalition forces killed several...

British soldier has been killed and three others injured in an explosion in Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. Their vehicle hit a mine while on a routine patrol in Helmand province in the south of the country. The four soldiers were from the Household Cavalry Regiment. The next of kin have been informed. The death brings the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 95.

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed. The soldier, from the Queens Royal Lancers Regiment, died after a suspected minestrike on his vehicle on Monday morning. It takes the number of UK troops killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 94. A second soldier hurt in the blast is being treated in field hospital. The MoD said the dead soldier's next of kin had been informed. The soldier was providing security to a supply convoy travelling from the town of Gareshk in Helmand province. The vehicles were returning to the...

via translation - Afghanistan: explosion at a power station, likely victims KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - An explosion in a small hydroelectric plant in the south of Afghanistan Saturday may have caused several deaths and injuries, announced an administrative officer. The cause of the explosion had not yet been identified Saturday morning in the central district of Gereshk, in the volatile province of Helmand, said the district chief Abdul Manaf. The latter did not exclude the possibility of an attack. "Many people may have been killed and injured. Four people injured were evacuated from the building to the hospital," he told AFP....

A suicide bomber has attacked a Nato military convoy in southern Afghanistan, killing three Nato soldiers, two of them Danish. Police say a number of Afghan civilians were injured when the bomb went off near the convoy in Helmand province. Earlier reports said some Afghan civilians had been killed in the blast in the district of Gereshk. There has been a sharp increase in violence in Afghanistan this year. Suicide bombs are increasingly common. On Sunday night a Canadian soldier was killed in an explosion in Kandahar province. More than 450 international troops have died in Afghanistan since the beginning...

NT soldiers bound for frontline REBEKAH CAVANAGH14Mar08 TERRITORY soldiers are to become Australia's first frontline troops since the Vietnam war. A squad of Darwin-based Diggers are being deployed to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban.The 15 artillerymen from 8/12 Medium Regiment at Robertson Barracks will fight alongside British troops.The gunners will be based in the dangerous southern province of Helmand -- the same area where Prince Harry was serving before being sent home last month after his top-secret deployment was revealed by an Australian magazine.It will be the first time Australians have manned a gun line on operations since Vietnam...

41 Taliban killed in south Afghanistan By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer 15 minutes ago Afghan and international forces killed 41 Taliban militants in a battle in southern Afghanistan, and a suicide car bomb attack on a convoy of U.S. troops left six Afghan civilians dead in Kabul, U.S. and Afghan officials said Thursday. None of the four American troops traveling in the two armored vehicles of the convoy was badly wounded in the Thursday attack, said Lt. Col. David Johnson, a spokesman for U.S. forces. The troops were traveling in one SUV and one truck, he said. Six Afghan...

Royal Marines from 40 Commando have destroyed a drugs factory in the Upper Sangin Valley along with 1.5 tonnes of morphine base - the precursor of heroin. The Commandos from Bravo Company discovered compounds in Sapwan Kala that contained a major drugs lab. They also uncovered evidence - some in English - of bank accounts, along with a weapons cache and identity cards. Part of Operation GHARTSE DAGGER, Bravo Company's 4 Troop began clearing through compounds in the north of Sapwan Kala at first light, talking to villagers as they went, hoping to find evidence of the heroin trade. Second...

A British marine has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. The marine, who served with 40 Commando Royal Marines, was pronounced dead at the scene, an MoD spokesperson said. The blast took place north of the town of Sangin in Helmand province where the marine's battle group was on patrol. Another marine was injured but was described by the MoD as "walking wounded". Next of kin of all personnel have been informed. The marines were taking part in a patrol to disrupt the activities of the Taleban. The death takes the number...

It is with deep regret that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a soldier from the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment was killed in southern Afghanistan yesterday, Sunday 17 February 2008. One other soldier was also injured in the incident but his injuries are not life threatening. Just before 2100 hrs local time soldiers from the 2nd Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, as part of their Operational Mentoring and Liaison Team (OMLT) role, were taking part in a foot patrol with 40 Commando Royal Marines near Kajaki, Helmand Province, when they were caught in an explosion. Medical treatment was administered...

Royal Marines have provided enough security in parts of Helmand to enable outreach patrols to bring much needed health care and reconstruction to local communities. The Royal Marines of Charlie Company 40 Commando, supported by RECCE Troop 40 Commando and elements of the Afghan National Army, have been engaging Taliban positions near Kajaki in Northern Helmand as part of Operation GHARTSE SPIKE. They have patrolled the area aggressively, disrupting the insurgents at a time when a spring offensive is usually expected and denying them any freedom of movement. The Royal Marines are trained in cold weather warfare and are able...

January 25, 2008 The British have made matters worse, says Afghan President David Charter in Davos, Anthony Loyd in Helmand and Richard Beeston Britain and Afghanistan fell out in spectacular fashion yesterday after President Karzai accused his British allies of bungling the military operation in Helmand and setting back prospects for the area by 18 months. Mr Karzai, Britain’s key ally in Afghanistan, had little praise for the efforts of the 7,800 British troops deployed in his country. Most are in the restless southern Helmand province, where Britain has invested billions of pounds in trying to defeat the Taleban, bolster...

Downing Street has hit back at claims by Afghan President Hamid Karzai that the arrival of British troops made security in his country worse. The Times reported that Mr Karzai blamed inadequate troop numbers in the southern Helmand Province for helping the Taleban regain its control. A Downing Street spokesman said he "wouldn't accept" UK presence had helped insurgents to take hold. He said UK troops had "suffered losses" to aid Afghanistan's development. The Times said Mr Karzai, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, told a group of journalists that "there was one part of the country...

A British soldier has been killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence has said. Five other soldiers were wounded in the blast, which happened on Sunday. The soldier was a member of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers attached to the 5th Regiment Royal Artillery. Next of kin have been told. He was killed and the others injured when their vehicle was hit by a mine 3km (1.8 miles) north east of Musa Qala, the MoD statement said. The soldier was pronounced dead at the scene. A 24-hour period of grace has been requested by his...

Excerpt - KABUL, Dec 9 (Reuters) - Afghan and NATO-led forces have captured two senior Taliban commanders during their offensive to retake the insurgents' most important stronghold in Afghanistan, the Afghan Defence Ministry said on Sunday. Musa Qala, in the southern province of Helmand, has a symbolic significance for both sides in the conflict in Afghanistan as the only sizeable Afghan town controlled by the Taliban. U.S. and British forces opened the operation on Friday, in the words of a British spokesman "kicking the door in to Musa Qala", to be followed up by an assault by Afghan forces. The...

via translation - The British Minister of Defense in Afghanistan, fighting in Musa Qala KABUL - The British Minister of Defense Des Browne arrived in Afghanistan where he met with his counterpart at the situation in the country, scene of an offensive by NATO and the Afghan army against the Taliban in the south, it was learned Sunday from diplomatic source. Arriving Saturday, he Browne met Sunday with his counterpart Abdul Rahim Wardak before traveling in the city of Herat (west), said the British embassy in Kabul. On the first day of his visit, the minister also met with British...

Excerpt - KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan -- The Afghan National Army, supported by international coalition forces, launched an operation Friday to recapture Musa Qaleh, a Taliban stronghold in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Wing Cmdr. Antony McCord, a NATO spokesperson, said coalition forces, including British, Danish and Estonian troops, were taken by helicopter to the edge of the town. “This operation will continue for the next few days,” he told journalists at Kandahar Airfield. Afghan and NATO troops surrounded the town and launched air strikes to dislodge Taliban rebels who had been in control for 10 months, the Afghan Defence Ministry said....

It is with much sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a soldier serving with the Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF), 5 Regiment Royal Artillery has been killed in an explosion today, Tuesday 4 December 2007, in southern Afghanistan. MOD. Opens in a new window. Two other soldiers were also injured as a result of the blast. Just after 1300 local time, the soldiers were conducting a tactical patrol to the north of Sangin, Helmand Province, when the vehicle they were travelling in was caught in an explosion. Medical treatment was provided prior to all three soldiers being evacuated...

KABUL, Afghanistan - U.S.-led coalition forces killed about 80 Taliban fighters during a six-hour battle outside a Taliban-controlled town in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, the latest in a series of increasingly bloody engagements in the region, officials said. Also Saturday, suicide bomber wearing an Afghan security uniform detonated his explosives at the entrance to a combined U.S.-Afghan base in the east of the country, killing four Afghan soldiers and a civilian, officials said. The battle near Musa Qala in Helmand province — the world's largest poppy growing region — is at least the fifth major fight in the area since...

The US-led coalition force in Afghanistan says that more than 160 Taleban fighters have been killed in two days of fighting in the south. They say that more than 100 insurgents were killed in Helmand province, and at least 65 in neighbouring Uruzgan. One coalition soldier died, US forces said. The Taleban denied the figures, which could not be independently verified. Villagers said there had been a large number of civilian deaths from aerial bombardments in both provinces. The latest violence comes as Afghan President Hamid Karzai is in New York to address the UN General Assembly. He has been...

Musa Qala, Helmand, is unusually peaceful. Farmers in this opium-rich region are busy preparing for autumn planting.Nor do residents live in fear that the Taleban are coming – they are already here. Said Mohammad Aref, “They collect food from every house, and drive around in their trucks.The Taleban took over in February after a truce collapsed. "We have no plans to recapture Musa Qala," said Ghulam Mahayuddin Ghuri, commander-in-chief of the Third Corps of the Afghan Army.The Taleban established their own regime, complete with district governor, police chief and Sharia courts.Said a Taleban commander. “Everyone gives zakat [Muslim tithe] to...

ISAF says Qari Faiz Mohammad, a top Taliban commander with close links to supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, died in a fierce clash with ANA and ISAF troops last week. Details of the raid were not released but one ISAF soldier died in southern Afghanistan that same day.There has been no official announcement of Qari Faiz Mohammad’s death from Taliban sources. Qari Faiz Mohammad was one of Afghanistan’s ‘Most Wanted’ Taliban leaders. He acted as Chairman of the Taliban military council and allegedly financed many Taliban operations launched in Helmand province, according to the BBC. The suspected death of Qari...

A British soldier from 14 Signal Regiment has been killed in southern Afghanistan, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. The soldier - a communications specialist - died in a rocket attack while providing support to operations in Helmand province on Friday. The soldier's next of kin have been informed and have requested a period of grace before his name is released. The death brings the number of UK military fatalities since 2001 to 67. The soldier was serving with Battle Group South on operation Chakush (Hammer) aimed at disrupting Taleban forces in the upper Gereshk Valley in Helmand Province,...

For the second time this week, US forces battled an entrenched Taliban unit inside Taliban controlled district of Musa Qala, which is located in the notorious southern province of Helmand. Initial reports suggest nearly 50 Taliban fighters died in the vicious 12 hour battle which began after Taliban soldiers ambushed an ANA patrol consisting of the 1st Brigade, 205th Afghan National Army Corps. The troops came under attack by heavy machine gun fire, small arms and rocket propelled grenades, all of which were fired from 16 different compounds, according to the statement. US soldiers accompanying the ANA unit called...

A British soldier serving in southern Afghanistan has been killed in a clash with Taleban fighters, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has said. The soldier, from the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards, died in the Gereshk Valley in Helmand province. The MoD said he was shot after his unit secured a bridge. Next of kin have been informed of his death. His death comes a day after a soldier from the 1st Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment was killed. "After consolidating its position after securing a bridge crossing of the Nahr-e-Seraj canal, the company he was with was pushing west...

A British soldier has been killed and two others injured in an explosion in southern Afghanistan. The deceased, who has not been named, was serving with the 1st Battalion of The Royal Anglian Regiment. The soldiers had been returning to base after a routine patrol at 0550 local time when an explosion struck their Vector vehicle. The UK has 7,100 troops in Afghanistan, mainly concentrated in the southern province of Helmand.

US forces battled an entrenched Taliban unit in the village of Shaban, located in the heart of Afghanistan’s number one poppy producing state, Helmand province. The clash began on Sunday when a US patrol was attacked by a suicide car bomber and an ensuing ambush by militants who were dug into several mud walled compounds. The patrol initially used small arms fire to repulse the ambush, according to a statement released by US forces. As the firefight quickly escalated, US war planes were called in to bomb the Taliban positions. The mud walled compounds were subsequently blown apart by...

KABUL (AFP) - The US-led military coalition in Afghanistan killed more than 20 Taliban militants in a prolonged clash Sunday in troubled Helmand province, a coalition statement said. The militants were killed after an Afghan and coalition patrol came under fire from rockets and automatic weapons in Musa Qala district in Helmand, a hotbed of insurgency in southern Afghanistan. The attack triggered a battle that continued into Sunday evening, the statement said. "A total of four bombs were dropped during the engagement and more than two dozen enemy fighters have been killed in the prolonged battle," the coalition said. A...

KABUL (AFP) - Several Taliban-led insurgents were killed when they ambushed an Afghan and US-led coalition patrol in southern Afghanistan, the coalition said Saturday. The coalition did not give a figure for the rebel casualties but said over 15 insurgents attacked the patrol in Taliban-dominated Sangin district of southern Helmand province on Friday. They "repelled the attack using effective small arms, machine gun and MK-19 fire," a coalition statement said, adding that "several Taliban were killed" and several more wounded in the brief exchange. Insurgent attacks take place almost daily in Helmand where the Taliban are most active, fighting an...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - U.S.-led airstrikes targeting Taliban militants who had attacked NATO forces slammed into civilian homes in southern Afghanistan, killing both civilians and insurgents, Afghan and Western officials said Saturday. Like most battles in the dangerous and remote regions of Afghanistan, casualty estimates varied widely. Local government officials said up to 60 civilians and 35 insurgents had been killed. NATO did not give an estimate of casualties, but one Western military official said privately that around eight civilians had been killed. It was not possible to independently verify the casualty claims. The U.S. acknowledged some civilians were killed during...

LASHKARGAH, 28 June 2007 (IRIN) - The bodies of four bearded men still hang from two tall poles at a roundabout in Musa Qala District, Helmand Province, in southern Afghanistan. Musa Qala District is controlled by Taliban insurgents. The four were hanged two days ago allegedly for spying for the Americans and the government of President Hamid Karzai. Only a Taliban decree can bring the decomposed bodies down and allow them to be buried according to Islamic rites. In both Islamic and international law governing conflicts, dead bodies, even those of armed enemies, should be protected from disrespect, mutilation...

The UK presence in Afghanistan will need to remain for decades to help rebuild the country, British ambassador Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles has said. "The task of standing up a government of Afghanistan that is sustainable is going to take a very long time," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme. He added that the Afghan people wanted the UK presence to help resist the Taleban and develop the country. Extra diplomatic staff are being deployed to Afghanistan this year. "The message we are getting, the message I had only last week down in Helmand from the people of the villages...

In January this year, soldiers from the Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters were preparing themselves for what they believed would be a deployment to southern Iraq this summer. But then the plans changed and, in March, they arrived in Helmand Province, Afghanistan to work as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF); their role, to form a new Battlegroup to supplement the troops, many of whom are British, already operating in the region. Lieutenant Colonel Richard Westley, the Commanding Officer 1 Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment, explained what these extra troops would bring to Helmand: "With the extra manpower and...

British troops deployed as part of NATO's International Security Assistance Force, and working alongside Afghan National Security Forces, are taking part in a major operation aimed at extending the control of the Afghan Government into northern Helmand Province. Around 1000 British troops are taking part in Operation Lastay Kulang Despite the loss of an ISAF helicopter and the deaths of a number of coalition troops the UK-led operation, codenamed Lastay Kulang, continues as Taliban extremists are forced to loosen their grip on communities within the Upper Sangin Valley. This UK-led operation, which takes its name from the Pashto word for...

It is with much sadness that the Ministry of Defence must confirm that a British soldier from the Royal Military Police was amongst the seven ISAF soldiers killed on Wednesday 30 May 2007. The Chinook helicopter that they were travelling in went down near Kajaki in Helmand Province, southern Afghanistan at approximately 9pm local time. The cause of the crash is subject to an investigation.

Excerpt - SANGIN, AFGHANISTAN — Shots cracked over barricades in the dark, and the night filled with sounds of men shouting and running. The defenders of a small outpost in the town of Sangin slammed mortars into firing tubes, sending up flares that cast a ghostly light over the confused scene. The smoky phosphorescence revealed British and Afghan soldiers watching nervously over the walls, toward an empty graveyard that Taliban fighters had used as cover to sneak up on a guard post. It was only a probing attack, intended to gauge the strength of the government forces now desperately holding...

The UK's Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of Task Force Helmand, was invited by Governor Wafa to address over 400 of Gereshk's influential tribal elders, called a jirga, on Thursday 10 May 2007. It was the first opportunity for the Governor and the commander to speak to the community since the start of ISAF's operation to clear the Sangin valley of senior Taliban members and foreign fighters. The jirga was also the first time in 28 years that a Helmand Governor has felt able to talk to the people without fear of being attacked by either the Russians or the Taliban....

The Taliban's top operational commander, Mullah Dadullah, has been killed in Afghanistan, security officials said on Sunday. The officials did not have details of where and when Dadullah was killed. "Mullah Dadullah has been killed and his body is in Kandahar," one official told Reuters.

Troops kill 'scores of Taleban' Nato says it is taking the fight to the militants Nato-led forces and Afghan troops have killed scores of Taleban fighters in the western province of Herat, a coalition statement says. It said 87 had been killed in a 14-hour battle on Sunday, 49 died two days earlier and one US soldier died. There is no independent confirmation or word from the Taleban on the deaths. It would be their worst losses this year. Meanwhile in the southern province of Helmand, UK-led forces have launched a major offensive against the Taleban. Up to 3,000 Nato-led...

Taliban 'invite' 10,000 Uzbeks to Helmand By Massoud Ansari, Sunday Telegraph Last Updated: 12:55am GMT 25/03/2007 Islamic militants linked to Osama bin Laden have been offered a safe haven by the Taliban in Afghanistan, bringing them into conflict with British troops patrolling the lawless province of Helmand. Uzbek gunmen, who fought a series of bloody battles last week with Pakistani tribesmen in the border region of Waziristan, where they had been living, have been told they should join the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan instead. The move raises the prospect of a major upsurge in violence in Helmand, where 43 British...

AFP via translation - Afghan south: 40 talibans killed in engagements with NATO KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - Approximately 40 talibans were killed in engagements against the Afghan forces and those of NATO Thursday in the province of Helmand, in the south of Afghanistan, announced the local police force. ?During a joint operation against the talibans who began this morning with Lashkar Gah and Gereshk, approximately 40 talibans were killed?, affirmed in AFP the chief of the provincial police force, Isau Khan. Lashkar Gah is the capital of the province of Helmand, epicentre of the recent combat between talibans and the Afghan...

Afghan soldiers have captured a Taliban leader who tried to flee a security operation in the south dressed in a burqa, NATO said on Wednesday. Tuesday's capture in Kandahar province came as NATO launched a major offensive in neighbouring Helmand to secure a key hydroelectric dam and combat the opium trade. The man was named as Mullah Mahmood and described as an expert bomb-maker. U.S.-led coalition forces also detained five more suspected militants in eastern Khost this week. Fighting is expected to be heavy in 2007 after the bloodiest year since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. The Taliban warn they...

Excerpt - KABUL, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Taliban fighters used children as human shields to flee heavy fighting this week during an operation by foreign and Afghan forces to clear rebels from around a key hydrolectric dam, NATO said on Wednesday. The Taliban have used human shields before, but never children, local residents say. The fighting occurred during Operation Kryptonite on Monday, an offensive to clear insurgents from the Kajaki Dam area in southern Helmand province to allow repairs to its power plants and the installation of extra capacity. "During this action ... Taliban extremists resorted to the use of...

February 13, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- The NATO-led force in Afghanistan says it has thwarted a Taliban attack on a key hydroelectric dam in the southern province of Helmand, RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan reported. The alliance says more than 300 troops from Britain and other NATO countries secured the Kajaki dam late on February 12 with support from NATO aircraft and Afghan government troops. Afghan provincial officials said at least 15 Taliban have been killed during the past three days in clashes near the dam. A spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said she could not confirm a...

SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan, Feb 12 (Reuters) - At least 700 Taliban fighters have crossed from Pakistan into Afghanistan to destroy a key dam, a major source of electricity, a provincial governor said on Monday. "We have got confirmed reports that they are Pakistani, Uzbek and Chechen nationals and have sneaked in," Helmand Governor Asadullah Wafa told Reuters by telephone. The dam, Kajaki, has seen major fighting in recent weeks between the Taliban and NATO forces.

Musa Qala, “city died” in fear of engagements KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - the situation was very tightened Monday with Musa Qala whose inhabitants said to fear an operation of NATO and gave a report on dissensions among the talibans who seized Friday this chief town of district of the south of Afghanistan. “The bazaar is closed and the streets are deserted, because people fear that the Afghan NATO and troops launch an operation to take again” the locality, declared in AFP an inhabitant, Hadji Bashir Khan, joined by telephone. Hundreds of families fled this small provincial town of Helmand since...

“Important” a leader taliban killed in a targeted Musa Qala raid KANDAHAR (Afghanistan) - “important” ordering taliban “directly responsible” for the catch Friday of Musa Qala, chief town of district in the south of Afghanistan, was killed Sunday morning by a targeted air raid, affirmed the international force of NATO. “This key figure of the talibans was known to have ordered the insurrectionists in the district of Musa Qala. It was directly responsible for the recent attacks conducted by the insurrectionists in the village for Musa Qala”, declared the spokesman with Kandahar (southern) of the international Force of assistance...