30 April AP via LA Times - NATO, Afghan Troops Target Taliban in Helmand Province.

Nearly 3,000 NATO and Afghan troops began an operation before dawn today to drive Taliban fighters from a swath of their opium-producing heartland in southern Afghanistan.

The British-led operation is the latest attempt to extend the control of President Hamid Karzai's government in Helmand province, officials said.

Military officials said the effort involved about 1,100 British troops, 600 U.S. troops and additional forces from the Netherlands, Denmark, Estonia and Canada. More than 1,000 Afghan government troops also were taking part.

The troops are targeting Helmand's Sangin Valley, an area near Afghanistan's strategic Ring Road that has "for too long been under the semi-control of the Taliban," said Lt. Col. Stuart Carver, a British commander...