Helmand, August 18: This was Operation Tor Shadey, the last offensive by British and Nato forces to clear insurgent-held areas before this week’s national elections.
The target, Gorup-e-Sheshkalay, was of particular strategic significance. A centre for the manufacture of roadside bombs, it sat on a route through which attacks have been carried out on Lashkar Gar, the capital of Helmand province, by a busy Taliban commander, Haji Talib Akar.
This was the biggest offensive by UK forces since Operation Panchai Palang, Panther’s Claw, which ended last month. It was also the first mission undertaken by the Welsh Guards Battlegroup since the death of their commanding officer, Lt-Col Rupert Thorneloe, the most senior British Army officer to be killed in action since the Falklands War.
Two US Marines accompanying British and Afghan government troops returned fire as we ventured back on to the narrow mud road, puffs of dust spraying from Taliban fire on the walls on either side as we crawled along underneath.
–Agencies