5 Taliban militants killed in Afghan offensive (Second Lead)

KABUL - Five Taliban militants were killed Saturday as the NATO-led forces launched a fresh offensive in southern Afghanista’s Helmand province, bastion of the Al Qaeda, in order to establish civilian government in the country.

The offensive began before dawn when dozens of helicopters dropped US marines and Afghan troops inside Marjah town, the poppy-growing region considered the last stronghold of the militants in the country.

“According to initial reports, five enemy have been killed,” said Sher Mohammad Zazai, commander of the Afghan Army’s 205 Corps.

“Two were killed in one location, three in another. They were killed in face-to-face fighting,” he told reporters via video link from Helmand’s capital of Lashkar Gah, according to The News.

The offensive, codenamed ‘Moshtareq’ (the Dari word for “together”), is the first major operation under the new doctrine of the UN-mandated International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which is aimed at backing up military power with a strong civilian follow-through.

More than 15,000 soldiers from the US, Britain and Afghanistan army have been involved in the operation, which the ISAF said, the largest offensive since the American-led coalition invaded Afghanistan in October 2001.

The assault, the first since the US President Barack Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan in December last year, is part of a campaign to impose government control over the rebel-held areas, before the withdrawal of the US forces in 2011.