US Marines battle Taliban

Watch Video

Play Video

US Marines were locked in battle with Taliban fighters late on Friday, as they continued efforts to secure the strategic town of Dahaneh in the southern Afghan province of Helmand.

The Marines were aiming to cut Taliban supply lines in the town and enable the government to open a polling station there ahead of next Thursday's presidential elections.

After two days of fighting, Marines helped Afghan officers raise the Afghan flag over the town on Friday morning after tribal elders assured the Americans no Taliban were left there.

Achary Martin, Captain of Marines, said, "This is probably the first time the flag of Afghanistan is flown in Now Zad district in several years so I think this is a good day."

But soon after the flag-raising ceremony, the Marine base in the town came under small arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, sending Marines running for cover.

A patrol was sent out to find the gunmen and ended up locked in a lengthy gunfight which continued into the night. Elsewhere in the province, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army base, killing a soldier and wounding four other people. The bomber rammed his vehicle into the base's gate in the provincial capital of Lashkar Gah. Three civilians and a soldier were among the wounded.