Marines launch assault into Taliban-held area

[unhappycamper]

Marines from the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit listen to their commanding officer as they prepare to leave in convoy April 28 from a forward operating base in southern Afghanistan.


Marines launch assault into Taliban-held area
By Jason Straziuso - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Apr 30, 2008 6:26:17 EDT

OUTSIDE GARMSER, Afghanistan — Marines stormed into a Taliban-held town before daybreak Tuesday, trading gunfire with insurgents on the ground and using helicopter gunships to destroy a militant compound in one of Afghanistan’s most violent regions.

Several hundred Marines, many of whom have fought in Iraq, reportedly met light resistance in the assault, which is the farthest south in years that American troops have operated in Helmand province.

The goal is to stretch NATO’s presence into an area where illegal opium poppy fields are plentiful and the Taliban is strong. British troops man a small base on Garmser’s northern edge but insurgents rule the countryside south of the outpost all the way to the Pakistan border.

No Marines suffered injuries, said their commander, Maj. Tom Clinton Jr. There was no immediate word on whether any insurgents were killed or wounded.

An 11-year-old Afghan boy suffered a chest wound from the explosion of a rocket that insurgents apparently fired at Marines, Clinton said. The boy was flown to a British base for surgery. His condition wasn’t immediately known.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_marines_afghanistan_042808/

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Those are some tired-looking troops.

Worn.