New NATO offensive in Kandahar Province

This one does not include Canadian troops. Our "death watch" journalists will be disappointed.

British-led armored columns of NATO troops swept into southern Afghanistan's Kandahar province on Friday, launching one of the biggest operations in months.

Hundreds of British, Estonian and Danish troops, backed by scores of armored vehicles, crossed through the night from their base in neighboring Helmand province and set up a desert camp north of the Arghindab River valley, which commanders say is a haven for Taliban guerrillas.

"We're here on an intelligence-led mission against the Taliban," said operation commander Lieutenant-Colonel Matt Holmes. "You can tell by the size of our presence that we mean business."

The offensive is one of the largest by NATO forces since the Canadian-led Operation Medusa in another part of Kandahar province in September, and the largest by British troops since heavy fighting in northern Helmand in the summer.

Royal Marines from Britain's 42 Commando were digging holes to sleep in at their new forward operating base in muddy desert, after camping under ponchos in rainstorms that hit the area as they moved east through the night.

They are joined by Estonian, Danes and British Light Dragoons in Scimitar light tanks...

It is the first time [emphasis added] such a large British-led force has been dispatched from Helmand to Kandahar, the Taliban heartland where several Canadian soldiers have been killed in some of the fiercest fighting of the year...

I wonder what Mr Salutin thinks?

More on our journalists from Damian.