Jul 3, 2009 1:10 am US/Eastern
US Marines Push Deeper Into Southern Afghan Towns
Marines Moving Into Taliban Strongholds On Second Day Of Major Military Offensive
NAWA, Afghanistan (AP) ―
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The rear gunner on a U.S. Marine helicopter keeps an eye out during the start of Operation Khanjari on July 2, 2009 in Main Poshteh, Afghanistan.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
U.S. Marines are moving into villages in Taliban strongholds in southern Afghanistan today, and they're meeting little resistance.
The Marines are trying to win over local chiefs on the second day of the biggest military operation in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.
One Marine was killed and several others injured or wounded on Thursday, when some 4,000 Marines launched the operation in Helmand province -- a remote area at the center of the country's illegal opium cultivation, which helps finance the insurgency.
In the country's east today, the deputy governor of Paktia province says a roadside bomb has killed three Afghans and a foreigner working on a road construction project.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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