AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE,
LONDON: British troops in southern Afghanistan have clashed with Taliban fighters for the first time since deploying to the restive region earlier this year, a newspaper reported Tuesday.
A senior British officer in Kabul told The Daily Telegraph that more than 100 troops have helped Afghan soldiers and police tackle attacks by hundreds of alleged Taliban fighters in Helmand province over the past five days.
British Apache helicopters were also used in operations for the first time.
Captain Drew Gibson, an army spokesman, was quoted as saying: “They fired at suspected Taliban positions and offered troops support and a show of force.”
The fighting started when suspected Taliban insurgents attacked Afghan police in the Musa Qala district of Helmand, The Daily Telegraph said.
On Sunday 13 Afghan soldiers and at least nine Taliban militants were killed in an eight-hour gun-fight in Sangin district, the newspaper said.
Britain this month took command of the NATO-led forces in Afghanistan, which will assume control of international military operations in the restive south of the country in July.
By that time, some 3,000 British troops will have been deployed to help maintain security in Helmand.
It is considered one of Afghanistan's most lawless areas due to an ongoing insurgency led by the Taliban and allegedly supported by drug gangs.
