KABUL, Feb. 13 (Xinhua) -- The long-expected massive operation on the Taliban insurgent group in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province was believed to start before down on Saturday, locals in the Marjah town said.
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| British soldiers from the First Battalion The Royal Welsh mobilise for Operation Moshtarak, a combined force of 15,000 troops launching major assaults on Taliban strongholds in Helmand Province, at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan February 13, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
A local resident, who insisted on using only one name of Tariq, told Xinhua via telephone that several hundred of foreign and Afghan soldiers in helicopter could be seen landing inside of the town.
Marjah, a town with a population of 80,000, is a Taliban stronghold in the Helmand province. Military analysts said around 1,000 insurgents might be hiding inside the besieged town.
The joint operation, codenamed Moshtarak in Pushton language or Together, was branded as the largest ever offensive on the Taliban since 2001, when the United States launched the war on terror in Aghanistan.
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| British soldiers from the First Battalion The Royal Welsh mobilise for Operation Moshtarak, a combined force of 15,000 troops launching major assaults on Taliban strongholds in Helmand Province, at Camp Bastion, Afghanistan February 13, 2010. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) |
Wayne Shanks, chief of public Affairs of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), told Xinhua through telephone that no confirmation could be given to media so far on whether the operation Moshtarak has been kicked off.
