AP Top News at 4:57 p.m. EST

AP Top News at 4:57 p.m. EST

US troops close Taliban escape route before attack

NEAR MARJAH, Afghanistan — U.S. and Afghan soldiers linked up with Marines on the outskirts of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah on Thursday, sealing off escape routes and setting the stage for what is being described as the biggest offensive of the nine-year war. Taliban defenders repeatedly fired rockets and mortars at units poised in foxholes along the edge of the town, apparently trying to lure NATO forces into skirmishes before the big attack.