KABUL — U.S. Marines swooped down behind Taliban lines in helicopters and Osprey aircraft Friday in the first offensive since President Barack Obama announced an American troop surge.
About 1,000 Marines and 150 Afghan soldiers were taking part in Operation Cobra’s Anger in a bid to disrupt Taliban supply and communications lines in the Now Zad Valley of Helmand province in southern Afghanistan, the scene of heavy fighting last summer, said Marine spokesman Maj. William Pelletier.
Hundreds of troops from the 3rd Battalion, 4th Marines and the Marine reconnaissance unit Task Force Raider dropped by helicopters and MV-22 Osprey aircraft in the northern end of the valley, while a second, larger Marine force pushed north from the main Marine base in the town of Now Zad, Pelletier said.
Combat engineers used armored steamrollers and explosives to force a corridor through Taliban minefields, Pelletier said.
There were no reports of U.S. or Afghan government casualties.
