Stranded US convoys targets for ambush

KOSHTAY, Afghanistan, (AFP) - Stranded for three days on a single stretch of road in southern Afghanistan, the US Marines wondered why they had not been ambushed by the Taliban - and then finally the attack came.
Rocket-propelled grenades, mortars and small-arms fire were directed at the convoy, which responded with shoulder-launched missiles, grenades and machinegun fire, an AFP reporter travelling with the Marines witnessed.
The strike at the troops late Friday came from a mud-walled compound 150 metres from the dirt road on which the US vehicles were stuck by IEDs (improvised explosive devices) planted both in front and behind them.
The 1st Combat Engineer Battalion were trying to open up the route into the south of Helmand province as part of President Barack Obamas new Afghan strategy, but they had been halted by a series of IED blasts since Wednesday.
IED damage to two vehicles left the convoy unable to advance and the Marines spent long days and nights either on guard or crammed into their armour-plated trucks, waiting for a Taliban ambush.
The insurgents attack started with small arms fire, followed by mortars and then two rockets that narrowly missed one of the convoys trucks.