US marines attack Afghan convoy

26 Nov, 2001 10:14 PM5 mins to read

10:30 am – UPDATE

US forces have attacked a convoy in Afghanistan hours after several hundred troops set up a base at an airstrip within spitting distance of the last bastion of the Taleban in southern Afghanistan.

The Marines on the ground called in Cobra attack helicopters to fire on a convoy of around 15 vehicles after it was seen heading towards their airstrip.

Captain David Romley did not say whether the convoy belonged to the Taleban.

The convoy included tanks and BMPs which are armoured combat vehicles on treads, mounted with guns and capable of carrying at least a dozen people, the Associated Press reported.

Several vehicles were destroyed but the clash did not affect the US buildup, with planes and helicopters arriving at regular intervals.

The attack was the Marines' first known action since capturing the airstrip, which local Afghans said was named Dolangi, about 90 km southwest of Kandahar.

The strip was rebuilt and used by Osama bin Laden and was once a sporting club at which Saudi Arabia's princes arrived to hunt animals with the Taleban.

The locals said the personal helicopter of Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar had been parked at the strip only a few days ago.

The marine deployment - named Operation Swift Freedom - marked a dramatic development in a war the United States has conducted almost entirely from the air.

The strip will be an important base from which to hunt bin Laden and to make a final push to take Kandahar.

The Marines, weighed down with rifles, gas masks, shoulder-fired rockets, mortars, knives and ammunition, lined up on the deck of the USS Peleliu to board six CH53 Super Stallion helicopters yesterday for a four-hour flight to their target.

"They picked this fight. You're going to finish it," the commanding officer of the battalion landing team, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Bourne, told his men.

"Sixty years ago the United States was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Nine months later Marines landed at Guadalcanal.

"Eleven weeks ago our country was attacked again. This is your Guadalcanal," Bourne told the Marines, their faces daubed with camouflage cream, blood groups stencilled on their sleeves.

The Marines secured the airstrip, a private facility within striking distance of the Taleban's last remaining stronghold, the southern city of Kandahar, without a shot fired.

They were the first major US ground force to move into Afghanistan since the United States began its bombing campaign on October 7 to topple the Taleban for harbouring bin Laden, prime suspect in the September 11 atrocities in New York and Washington.

More troops will follow them in. "In short order you'll have 1000-plus Marines in the backyard of the Taleban," said Colonel Peter Miller, chief of staff for Taskforce 58, which comprises nearly 9000 Marines and sailors, including two Marine Expeditionary Units of 2100 Marines each.

A taskforce press officer said reports that Kandahar airport had been seized were wrong.

"We are not at Kandahar airport. We are at a desert airstrip in southern Afghanistan."

Marines from Charlie Company in the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit made up the force that raided the airstrip with air support from Cobra attack helicopters, Harriers and AC-130 gunships.

There was little sign of nerves as they lined up to test-fire their weapons off the side of the ship and await orders to board the heavy-lift helicopters.

"We're all psyched up about actually going and getting some payback," said Jeff Feucht, aged 22, from Minnesota, showing off his own knife with a 10-inch serrated blade engraved with dragons.

On the door of one of the helicopters was painted the aircraft's name, Creeping Death.

Preparations for the assault began weeks ago. Troops started leaving the Peleliu and the other ships of the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit on Thursday.

In Washington, US officials, who asked not to be identified, said those forces had first been moved to staging posts in Pakistan.

Among the first tasks for the Marines who made the non-stop flight from the Peleliu was to check the airstrip for mines and mark it with landing lights to allow a wave of KC-130 Hercules planes to ferry in more troops and vehicles.

"The idea is to build up combat power on the objective as quickly as we can so by the time the enemy can react it's a done deal," Colonel Bourne said.

For the past week, the taskforce in the north Arabian Sea has worked at a hectic pace to mount Operation Swift Freedom.

Colonel Miller said the plan was to build up a strong presence on the ground as quickly as possible while maintaining secrecy.

From the middle of last week, amphibious landing craft and helicopters ferried people and equipment to a staging post in an undisclosed country in the Arabian Sea region. Under military ground rules, that country cannot be identified.

The six ships belonging to two amphibious groups carrying the 15th and 26th Marine Expeditionary Units are being supported by at least one Canadian naval vessel and smaller US Navy ships.

After the days of frenetic activity on the Peleliu, calm descended when the Marines finally left to secure the ground base.

In a hushed control room, the 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit commander, Colonel Thomas Waldhauser, directed operations, speaking to the Marines on the ground who called in by radio to report their progress using codewords chosen according to a theme - in this case, beer brands.

Just 90 minutes after the first helicopter touched down, the first KC-130 Hercules aircraft flew in, bringing the first of the troops and equipment ashore.

Officials say the buildup is planned to continue for some days, although they are cagey about giving specific numbers.

"We're going to be a pretty formidable force right in their backyard," Colonel Miller said a few days before the initial raid. "If anything, we'll destabilise them and completely unhinge them."

- REUTERS

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