British troops in southern Afghanistan have fired their first shots against Taliban fighters, the Ministry of Defense (MoD) in London confirmed Tuesday. The 16 Air Assault Brigade fired the "warning" while supporting Afghan national police pursuing insurgents, the MoD said. There is no word on Taliban casualties in the operation in north Helmand.In a separate incident, Apache attack helicopters were used for the first time since the UK assumed coalition control of the province. A "Hellfire" missile was used to destroy a vehicle which had been hit in fighting with the Taliban and could not be recovered, the MoD added.
More than 2,000 British troops are now in Helmand and the full complement will eventually number 3,300. The soldiers replaced US forces as part of an expansion of peacekeeping operations by NATO at the start of the month. An MoD spokesman said there were no British casualties in the operation against insurgents last weekend. "A company of about nine troops fired warning shots against the enemy force, largely Taliban," the spokesman added.
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