U.S. Marines and Afghan soldiers stormed the Taliban-held town of Marjah on Saturday, as a major offensive began to break the extremists' grip over a wide area of their southern heartland and re-establish government control. Punching their way through a line of insurgent defenses that included mines and homemade bombs, ground forces crossed a major canal into the town's northern entrance, the Associated Press reported. Maj. Gen. Nick Carter, NATO commander of forces in southern Afghanistan, said Afghan and coalition troops, aided by 60 helicopters, made a «successful insertion» into Marjah without incurring any casualties. «The operation went without a single hitch,» Carter said at a briefing in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. Carter said the strike force quickly gained ground as it moved into Marjah and overran disorganized insurgents. Five Taliban fighters have been killed and eight arrested since the offensive began overnight, said Helmand provincial spokesman Daoud Ahmadi. He said troops had recovered the bodies of the dead militants.
