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A Taliban spokesman says the Afghan fighters are still in control of the southern town of Marjah amid ongoing fighting with NATO and Afghan forces.
Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told The Associated Press by phone Saturday that Taliban fighters are holding their ground in the town, a longtime Taliban stronghold.
Ahmadi said Afghan government claims of 20 dead Taliban fighters were exaggerated. He said two Taliban fighters have been killed and two wounded.
NATO has claimed early success in the new offensive on Marjah, described as the biggest joint military operation since the 2001 invasion.
Thousands of U.S. and Afghan soldiers stormed the Taliban stronghold of Marjah before dawn Saturday, sweeping by air and ground against resistance into the biggest southern town under Taliban control. The massive offensive was aimed at breaking the Taliban grip over a wide area of their southern heartland.
Thousands of British, U.S. and Canadian occupying troops swept into Taliban areas to the north of Marjah.
NATO said three U.S. soldiers were killed Saturday in a bombing elsewhere in southern Afghanistan.
The ground advance into Marjah was slowed by extensive fields of mines, homemade bombs and booby traps as Marine infantry crossed a major canal into the town's northern entrance. The town's canals were built by the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s.
Gunfire was ringing through the town by midday Saturday as troops picked their way slowly through fields lined with homemade explosives and other land mines.
Saturday's ground assault followed many hours after an initial wave of helicopters carrying hundreds of U.S. Marines and Afghan troops swooped into town under the cover of darkness before dawn. Helicopters fired missiles at tunnels, bunkers and other defensive positions.
PHOTO CAPTION
US occupying soldiers battle Taliban in Marjah on February 12, 2010.
Agencies
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