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Attack on village gives Marines a taste of war

After a long buildup of tension, they walk into an ambush

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Photos: Troops launch major assault on Taliban strongholds

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  1. A Marine from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment walks through a farm compound where his company stopped to rest for the night in Marjah, Afghanistan, on Feb. 24. The Afghan government has said it has recaptured the southern town from the Taliban, in the biggest NATO-led offensive since the start of the eight-year war. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  2. The Afghan army's chief of staff, Gen. Bismillah Mohamadi, presents a certificate of appreciation to U.S. Marines in Trikh Nawar, northeast of Marjah, on Feb. 24. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  3. U.S. Marines with 1/3 Charlie Company lift a comrade who fell into an irrigation canal during a patrol in Trikh Nawar on Feb. 24. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  4. U.S. Army special forces walk acrros a field as Blackhawk helicopters transporting NATO officers land in Marjah on Feb. 24. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  5. Related story U.S. commander apologizes on Afghan TV
    During a medevac mission by the U.S. Army's Task Force Pegasus, flight medic Sgt. Bryan Eickelberg, left, directs Marines as they carry two wounded comrades to a helicopter. Their armored vehicle hit an improvised explosive device in Marjah on Feb. 23. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  6. "GOD" is written on the helmet of a Marine with 1/3 Charlie company patroling a poppy field in Trikh Nawar on the northeastern outskirts of Marjah on Feb. 23. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  7. U.S. Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Whitman holds his radio into the air as he tries to communicate with the main base in Marjah on Feb. 22. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    Afghan people carry the body of a civilian killed in a suicide bombing on a small group of tribal elders and government workers in Khogyani district near Jalalabad, Afghanistan, on Monday, Feb. 22. (Rahmat Gul / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  9. U.S. marines with 1/3 Charlie Company patrol past an Afghan army soldier holding a rocket propelled grenade launcher at a market in Trikh Nawar on the Northeastern outskirts of Marjah on Feb. 22. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  10. A U.S. soldier keeps watch as Capt. Carl Subler, a U.S. chaplain, celebrates Mass in an outpost in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Sunday, Feb. 21. NATO and Afghan troops have launched an offensive in the region aimed at rooting out Taliban insurgents. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  11. Marine Sgt. Ryan Mack, spotter at left, talks on the radio as Spc. Thomas Leuthold, 20, takes aim at Taliban insurgents during a firefight in the Badula Qulp area. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  12. A U.S. soldier waits for a Black Hawk helicopter to land in the Arghandab valley in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan on Feb. 20. (Baz Ratner / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines pepare to leave a forward patrol base in Marjah in Helmand province on Feb. 20. The town is the Taliban's main stronghold in southern Afghanistan. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  14. Spc. Jeremiah Butts, center, and his colleagues prepare ammunition in an outpost in the Badula Qulp area on Feb. 20. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  15. A U.S. soldier checks his gear outside an outpost in the Badula Qulp area. In the background are the antennas of Stryker armored vehicles. The plastic bottles are placed on each antenna as codes to identify the platoon and single vehicles. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  16. U.S. Marine Christopher Whitman carries an Afghan soldier who was shot in the lower leg during a battle with the Taliban in Marjah on Feb. 20. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  17. A wounded Afghan soldier is flown in a U.S. helicopterbrought from Marjah to Camp Bastion in Helmand province on Feb. 20. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  18. A U.S. soldier sits at a lookout in the Arghandab valley in Kandahar province, Feb. 20. (Baz Ratner / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  19. U.S. Marines sleep in their firing positions at a forward camp outside Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Feb. 20. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines search for a Taliban sniper from inside a cotton workshop in Marjah on Feb. 19. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  21. Afghan soldiers kneel in formation next to U.S. soldiers, during conduct a dismounted patrol in the Badula Qulp area in southern Afghanistan on Feb. 19. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  22. U.S.Marines and their translator take cover as they come under Taliban fire in Trikh Nawar, a poppy farmland area on the northeastern outskirts of Marjah on Feb. 19. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  23. U.S. Marines gear up early in the morning in Marjah on Feb. 19. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    US soldiers guard detainees rounded up after an explosion aimed at a U.S. patrol in Marjah on Feb. 18. The detainees were released later. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines search for weapons and materials that could be used to make explosive devices in a house in Marjah, Feb. 18. (Tyler Hicks / Redux Pictures) Back to slideshow navigation
  26. U.S. Marines read and pack their gear under head lamps at a campsite in Marjah on Feb. 18. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment move in Marjah on Feb. 16. U.S. and Afghan forces have launched the biggest operation since the 2001 invasion to root out Taliban forces in the southern province. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, use dogs to search for explosives during an operation in Marjah on Feb. 17. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  29. A U.S. Marine instructs Afghan men to raise their clothes to check that they are not concealing weapons in Marjah on Feb. 17. (Altaf Qadri / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  30. A senior Afghan Army officer instructs a soldier on where to hoist an Afghan flag on a building in a market in Marjah on Feb. 17. (Altaf Qadri / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  31. During a sporadic firefight, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert B. Cowdrey, a medic from La Junta, Colo., top right, coordinates the evacuation of two suspected Taliban fighters in Marjah on Feb. 17. Marines at left carry the second of the wounded men, who were captured minutes earlier, according to witnesses. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  32. An Afghan man raises his hands as requested by U.S. Marines, not seen, on Feb. 17. Armored vehicles are seen in the background in Marjah. (Altaf Qadri / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  33. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment warm themselves by a fire in a compound in the early morning in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Feb. 16, 2010. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines breaks down the door of a house to search for weapons during an operation in the town of Marjah, in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province, on Tuesday, Feb. 16. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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     Related video Marines on edge in latest Afghanistan offensive
    U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, fire their weapons in the town of Marjah in Nad Ali district of Helmand province Feb. 15. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marine armored vehicles and troopers are seen in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan on Feb. 15. Thousands of U.S. and Afghan troops are attempting to gain control of the Taliban stronghold of Marjah. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  37. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment take cover in an open poppy field during a firefight as Taliban fighters fire on them from the town of Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  38. An Afghan man with a gunshot wound is carried to a waiting helicopter to be evacuated by a U.S. Army Task Force Pegasus helicopter crew, in Marjah on Feb. 15. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  39. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, fire on Taliban positions in the town of Marjah in Helmand province on Feb. 15. NATO and Afghan troops have hit stiff resistance in Marjah, the Taliban's main stronghold in southern Afghanistan. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  40. Photographed through the plexiglass window of a U.S. Army medevac helicopter, a U.S. Marine armored vehicle is parked inside a rubble-strewn battlefield in Marjah on Feb. 15. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  41. U.S. Lt. Col. Burton Shields, right, commander of the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 5th Stryker Brigade, takes part in a meeting with Afghan elders in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, on Feb. 15. Ten elders sat with Lt. Col. Burton Shields to discuss hopes and grievances after a patrol of U.S., Canadian and Afghan troops fought insurgents in southern Afghanistan. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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  42. U.S. Marines with 1/3 Marine Charlie Company fire mortar rounds on Taliban positions in the northeast of Marjah on Feb.15. Some 15,000 soldiers, including 4,400 Afghans, are taking part in Operation Moshtarak, which aims to clear militants from the Marjah and Nad Ali districts of the poppy-growing central Helmand River valley. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  43. A U.S. Marine with 1/3 Marine Weapons Company takes aim at a man hiding in an irrigation canal during the battle against insurgents on the northeast of Marjah on Feb. 14. The farmer, suspected to be a Taliban spotter, was searched and released. (Patrick Baz / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
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  44. U.S. Marines take cover during a firefight as Taliban snipers fire on their position in Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province on Feb. 14. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  45. U.S. Marines search part of Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. Dozens of improvised explosive devices and bomb rigged booby traps were found in the area as Marines moved into the town. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  46. A U.S. soldier returns fire as others run for cover during a firefight with insurgents in the Badula Qulp area west of Lashkar Gah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. The area is near Marjah, where Marines began an offensive against the Taliban the previous day. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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  47. A wounded U.S. Marine is rushed to a waiting U.S. Army helicopter for evacuation from Marjah. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    An Afghan has his eyelids pulled apart as U.S. soldiers take images of villagers' retinas near Kalagush in Nuristan province. (Kim Jae-hwan / AFP - Getty Images) Back to slideshow navigation
  49. U.S. and Afghan forces exchange fire with insurgents during a patrol in the Badula Qulp area. In the fight, one soldier was wounded and at least one insurgent was killed. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  50. A U.S. Army soldier walks on a patrol with Afghan police near the town of Shah Joy in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan. (Baz Ratner / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, rest in the early morning in the town of Marjah in the Nad Ali district of Helmand province. Marines came under intense fire on Sunday at a building where an Afghan flag had been raised to mark progress in a NATO offensive against the Taliban. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  52. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Alexander Linnehan keeps watch on an Afghan man during a patrol with Afghan police near the town of Shah Joy in Zabul province, southern Afghanistan. (Baz Ratner / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines from Bravo Company of the 1st Battalion, 6th Marines fire mortars in Marjah. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  54. An Afghan Army soldier shakes hands with an elderly man in the village of Qari Sahib, Nad Ali district, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. (Altaf Qadri / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  55. From left, Spc. Zachary Barbadillo, 23, from Waialua, Hawaii, Pfc. Matthew Woodley, 21, from Ozark, Ala., and Sgt. Joshua Rodriguez from Las Vegas, Nev., talk inside an armored vehicle in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan on Feb. 13. The soldiers are helping the Marine offensive against the Taliban by blocking any insurgent movement along a canal. They're from the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, gestures as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in the town of Marjah, in Nad Ali district, Helmand province. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Marines line up to board Sea Stallion helicopters en route to an air assault against the Taliban stronghold of Marjah. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
  58. U.S. Marines from 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment walk in a column as they enter Marjah in Afghanistan's Helmand province. (David Guttenfelder / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, gestures as he tries to protect an Afghan man and his child after Taliban fighters opened fire in Marjah. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  60. Airborne in a Black Hawk medevac helicopter, U.S. Army flight medic Staff Sgt. Robert B. Cowdrey, of La Junta, Colo., right, with Charlie Company, All American Dustoff, talks with a Marine wounded in a rocket-propelled grenade attack. Crew Chief Spc. Timothy Johns, of Mitchell, S.D., assists at left. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, takes aim during a gunbattle in the town of Marjah. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
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    U.S. Staff Sgt. Christopher Wootton, 25, from Richmond, Va., talks to a villager in the Badula Qulp area, west of Lashkar Gah, in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan. Wootton's unit is supporting a U.S. Marine offensive against the Taliban in Marjah. (Pier Paolo Cito / AP) Back to slideshow navigation
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    A U.S. Marine from Bravo Company of 1st Battalion, 6th Marines, gestures during a gunbattle in the town of Marjah. (Goran Tomasevic / Reuters) Back to slideshow navigation
  64. Injured Taliban fighters receive medical treatment aboard a Black Hawk helicopter after they were captured. (Brennan Linsley / AP) Back to slideshow navigation

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