Fight to the death
SUNDAY Mirror WITH OUR TROOPS ON THE FRONTLINE 2,000 soldiers prepare to take Taliban stronghold Choppers strafe hideouts as snipers pick off the enemy Militants vow to battle to the last man standing
Rupert Hamer, Embedded With The British Brigade Recce Force Outside Musa Quala, Afghanistan
In the heat and chaos of battle, I watch Taliban bunkers erupt in flames as Allied troops engage in their most important onslaught yet in Afghanistan.
Photographer Phil Coburn and I sat on the frontline yesterday as Allied forces launch Operation Mar Karadad, the biggest fightback to date against Taliban warlords.
We are embedded with the elite British Brigade Recce Force (BRF), who are leading the first assault on Musa Quala, capital of the Taliban in lawless Helmand Province.
Perched on a ridge, we dig in alongside British troops as they open fire on three Taliban fighters with a deafening 50-calibre machine gun.
While red tracer streaks into the enemy position, a bunker where the rebels are hiding bursts into flames.
Lance Bombardier Alex Smith, 25, says: "I fired eight rounds into the Taliban position. After it burst into flames I saw three Taliban fighters running away and I continued to fire at them. I'm not sure if I hit any or not. It was a huge buzz, a real adrenaline rush."
Soldiers from the Brigade Recce Force in a different position exchange machine-gun fire with more rebel fighters. Meanwhile, US forces fight their way into the green zone below our position as they push closer and closer towards the town.
Behind us, 2,000 troops amass, a snaking column of Land Rovers and US Humvees bristling with weaponry.
The air support ahead of us rain down bombs on Musa Quala, a town the size of Cambridge and the epicentre of the Taliban menace.
It is the Taliban's gunrunning and drug-dealing powerbase, the only urban territory they hold in Afghanistan. And they have vowed to fight to the end to cling on to it.
Until autumn last year, the town was held by the British. Then we pulled out and handed back power to the Afghan elders, only for them to be overrun by the marauding Taliban in February. Now - in the most important battle of the year - the Allies MUST re-take Musa Quala.
Earlier, amid the dull thud of distant artillery, we saw 14 Chinook helicopters flying so low they seemed to skim the ground as they raced towards a dry river bed - called a wadi - leading into Musa Quala.
The choppers were dropping 300 US troops to make the main assault on the town via the wadi from the north with the help of the BRF, who have spent the last four weeks living rough in the desert, probing Taliban defences, gaining vital intelligence on the ground.
In the back of our wagon, Sergeant Matthew Lane, a signaller from Northants, relays messages to his boss in the command vehicle. Within minutes he reports the first casualty.
As we approach Musa Quala, the Chinooks emerge from the wadi, having successfully dropped off the US paratroopers. They fly off into the sunset at 50 feet.
Apaches dip in and out of the giant river bed, firing at Taliban outposts. The chaos and noise is terrifying, but so intoxicating that the troops cheer as the helicopters pass over.
By half light we reach our destination - a village just outside Musa Quala that needs to be secured before a scout force from the BRF links up with the American paras to guide them into the town.
We watch as a 500lb bomb explodes on one target while two Apaches strafe a nearby house. Minutes later the choppers spot a pick-up truck with a machine gun mounted on top and fire two Hellfire missiles into it.
The vehicle vapourises. Private Josh Limb, 22, from Scarborough, spots a figure darting into a doorway. "When he comes out I'm going to slot him," he says.
But a lance corporal peers through a pair of binoculars and fails to see a weapon on the man. "I can't see a weapon, you can't fire," he replies.
Amid the smoke and noise of air strikes, I can see groups of women walking between houses while a shepherd stands helplessly among his flock as the Apaches circle.
An hour later US troops making their way up to the village on foot spot a vehicle and warning shots are fired from the ridge.
By nightfall, radio reports suggest two soldiers, probably from the Afghan National Army who have launched a diversionary attack from the south, have been killed and there is one T1 case - someone with a life-threatening wound.
In the dark, troops track armed men in the village. Three insurgents disappear into a straw and mud compound. Troops call in the Apaches and laser the target so the pilots can pinpoint it with night-vision goggles.
Two of the helicopters open fire, raining missiles and rockets down on the compound. The Taliban are not seen again.
Twenty minutes later, as the US paratroopers get bogged down clearing the area on foot, the Apaches destroy two vehicles. They burn steadily through the night.
British and Afghan forces from across southern Afghanistan had been pushing up towards Musa Quala in preparation for this operation since Tuesday.
We took the long road to the besieged town, joining a convoy from the main British base of camp Bastion earlier last week to meet up with the BRF.
"We've had to fight our way through with every convoy so far," says 2nd Lieutenant Ali Dray, who commanded most of the 20 vehicles during the trip. She is 23 and passed out of Sandhurst with Prince William last December.
She says: "The main frustration we have is with the ageing fleet of vehicles we've got. They are always breaking down and usually at the time you don't want them to.
"A few weeks ago the wheel come off my wagon en route. We fixed it only for it to break down minutes later. We started getting mortared and you think, 'I could do without this.'"
By 9.30am on Friday, the convoy is closing in on the town - one US Humvee blares out rock music. With Major Anthony Phillips, from Galashiels, Selkirkshire, the officer commanding the BRF, we approach the farmers whose ploughed fields have been churned up by the stream of troop carriers.
They demand nothing but he gives them money as compensation. "We are not Taliban," the eldest man tells us. "We are just farmers. The Taliban don't visit us during the day. Maybe they come at night. We see nothing but we hear the dogs barking."
Brigadier Andrew Mackay, commander of Task Force Helmand, said: "Musa Quala is significant because it is symbolic to the Taliban and the Afghan government.
"It represents an act of defiance by the insurgents. In an insurgency the people are the prize and they will be won by the side that can offer the most to them. The government can offer economic development, schools and hospitals.
"The record of the Taliban in power is one of cruelty and oppression. The people have a clear choice and we are doing all we can to persuade them that their best interests lie with the government."
Just as in Iraq, there is a battle for hearts and minds every bit as critical as the onslaught raging here.
'We've fought through with every convoy'
2nd Lt Ali Gray, 23
Mirror
