Story:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/13/afghanistan.offensive/index.html
Marjah, Afghanistan (CNN) — NATO troops say they have gained a small foothold in part of a Taliban-controlled town Saturday, a day after they launched their biggest war offensive in southern Afghanistan.
Military officials said the offensive — dubbed Operation Moshtarak — got under way at 2 a.m. (4:30 p.m. ET Friday).
Moshtarak, meaning “together” in ther Afghan Dari language, symbolizes the fact that combined forces are serving alongside one another.
By early Saturday, at least one military company said it had gained a small foothold in the town of Marjah, a place thought to be the last Taliban stronghold in the southern Afghanistan province of Helmand.
But as the company of about 200 U.S. Marines moved to increase its foothold in Marjah, insurgents fired guns and rocket-propelled grenades at them.
At the same time in another part of Marjah, soldiers were in a fierce gunbattle with insurgents, military officials said.
Five Taliban fighters were killed and eight were arrested in the early hours of the operation, said a spokesman for the Helmand province governor, Dawoud Ahmadi.
Some of about 15,000 troops from the United States, United Kingdom, Afghanistan and Canada are attacking Taliban targets in and around Marjah, a city of 80,000 to 100,000 residents, where the Taliban has set up a shadow government, coalition authorities said.
The offensive turned a main bazaar near the city center into a ghost town after residents were warned to leave the area. NATO forces said they are following a directive not to shoot at civilians, some of whom are still on the streets.
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