GARMSER (Afghanistan), Dec 5: British Marines attacked a Taliban-held valley in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday but withdrew after a ferocious counterattack that withstood air strikes and artillery fire, witnesses said.

One Royal Marine was killed and a second wounded during the battle, the UK Helmand Task Force (UKTF) said.

Scores of soldiers ran across a bridge over the Helmand River under a full moon shortly before daybreak and began sweeping south through wheatfields in the south of the province, the opium centre of the world's major producer.

A Reuters cameraman said the Marines initially faced only sporadic resistance but when they advanced, Taliban fighters launched a ferocious, organised riposte with heavy weapons and tried to outflank the British troops.

The fierce resistance illustrated the challenges facing the Nato troops in Afghanistan where they are trying to subdue well-armed Taliban and other militants bolstered by profits from a record opium crop, according to Afghan and foreign officials.

Major Andy Plewes, who led the Royal Marines of Zulu Company 45 Commando, on the assault, said the soldiers had expected resistance: “What we didn't know was how strong it was.”

“We don't currently have enough forces in the area to hold ground completely and that has to be done by Afghan security forces,” he told a Reuters reporter with the Marines.

British casualties have been mounting since ISAF took over command of operations in southern Afghanistan at the end of July.—Reuters