UK calls Afghan operation a success

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British defense officials say a five-week military operation to oust Taliban fighters from an Afghan stronghold was completed over the weekend.

File photo shows British soldiers of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on top of an armored vehicle at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province. (AFP/File/Shah Marai)

They say troops captured a key corridor of land in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province.

The operation called Panther's Claw began days before a complementary operation by 4,000 U.S. Marines running north from Pakistan.

The British troops moved into the southern half of Helmand to clear insurgent strongholds and disrupt militant supply lines.

Military officials say almost all of the estimated 500 Taliban fighters in the area have fled, laid down their weapons or been killed. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown declared the operation a major success.