British troops blitz the Taliban

British troops in Afghanistan have spearheaded a massive offensive to stop thousands of Taliban troops entering from Pakistan.

Soldiers from 5th and 2nd Scots battalions blitzed enemy positions in a 1,400-strong thrust to cut off insurgent supply lines.

Yesterday Major Neil Den-Mckay of 5 Scots told how his men and US Marines forced back Taliban troops using rocket-propelled grenades.

But in Helmand province, a suicide bomber injured a British officer and several Afghan policemen.

And protesters blocked a road in eastern Afghanistan saying Coalition forces killed three civilians.

In Iraq, the government agreed a ceasefire with militant cleric Moqtada al-Sadr’s Mehdi Army in Baghdad’s Sadr City.