The battle of Sangin: British forces lead fight to recapture key town

British troops have been spearheading an operation to recapture the symbolic town of Sangin in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, where their comrades were engaged in bitter fighting against Taliban forces last year.

A force of more than 1,000 Nato and Afghan troops with helicopters and armour, including the Royal Marines 42 Commando, drove the Taliban out of Sangin late last week, according to Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

"There was very heavy fighting between foreign forces, Afghan forces and Taliban in Sangin two nights ago," a local resident, Haji Akhtar Mohammad, told the Associated Press yesterday.

Mr Mohammad said Nato and Afghan troops were in control of Sangin's district centre, a compound where a small detachment of the 3rd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, fought off waves of Taliban attacks last summer. Yesterday, the Taliban appeared to be falling back to the neighbouring district of Musa Qala, which was the scene of further intense clashes last year. British troops later withdrew after a controversial peace deal under which local elders agreed to keep the Taliban out ­ only for the insurgents to move back in soon afterwards.

When British forces were sent to Helmand last year, there was no intention of deploying in the north of the province, which is a Taliban stronghold. But commanders agreed to a request from the former governor to send small numbers of troops to "platoon houses" in Sangin, Musa Qala and other centres in order to assert Kabul's control.

There was an outcry after the beleaguered detachments found themselves fighting for their lives against hundreds of insurgents, often running low on vital supplies of food, water and ammunition. Sixteen British troops were killed in the space of a few weeks.

The operation to retake Sangin, which started last Wednesday, is part of Operation Achilles, Nato's largest ever offensive in Afghanistan. Launched last month, it aims to drive Taliban militants out of northern Helmand and open the way for multimillion-dollar repair work on a dam in Kajaki district, which would supply the south with electricity. Repeated clashes around Kajaki between Royal Marines and Taliban fighters have deterred civilian aid workers.

About 4,500 Nato and 1,000 Afghan forces are in and around Helmand province as part of Operation Achilles. In the past several months, Taliban militants and foreign fighters have streamed into the province, according to American and Nato officials, and there have been more than 220 "tactical engagements" since the start of the operation. Dozens of militants had been killed or captured, they said.

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