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A day of heavy fighting left 25 insurgents dead in a former haven in northern Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand. The story of the Battle of Washiran can be told for the first time after soldiers described the assault to The Daily Telegraph. Surveillance first identified eight fighters readying their weapons for attack in a compound that was targetted by RAF Tornado with a 500lb satellite guided bomb. The Paras were then ordered to fight through the village but met with fierce enemy resistance and roads laced with hidden IEDs (Improvised Explosive Device). Lt Sam Whitlam, commanding 5 Platoon, B Company,...

The Parachute Regiment has suffered its biggest loss in a week since the Falklands War after two soldiers were killed during an ambush in Afghanistan. The number of paratroopers killed in action in the last four days now stands at five dead after a suicide bomber killed three on Sunday. In an operation to flush out the Taliban and reassure the local population around the town of Sangin the Paras were ambushed by the insurgents from close range. A third soldier was seriously wounded. Although senior commanders have said the Taliban leadership had been "decapitated" and supply routes "disrupted" it...

BRITISH defence chiefs have put a battalion of paratroopers on standby to jump into Afghanistan, amid fears of heavy fighting with the Taliban this winter as the government in Kabul tries to eradicate opium poppy growing.If the 600 troops carry out an airborne landing it will be the first time that British paratroopers have jumped into action since Suez 50 years ago. The Airborne Task Force, a role currently filled by 2nd Battalion, the Parachute Regiment, is ready to fly to Afghanistan within 12 hours and be on the ground within 24 hours, senior defence sources said. The Taliban have...

British Paratroopers have filmed themselves fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan and posted it on the internet.The video - set to an Eminem track - features fierce firefights, a helicopter dropping supplies and a soldier firing a rocket launcher. It starts with an expletive-filled warning to "Terry Taliban" which concludes with the lines, "So do one Terry, you've plenty to fear, we run this town, the Paras are here". Sky News foreign affairs editor Tim Marshall said the MoD - which has refused to condemn the soldiers - was in a tricky position as it would be accused of not supporting...

The first troops to return from a summer of intense fighting in Afghanistan came home last night after some of the toughest battles the Army has seen in 50 years. The simple count of ammunition expended, 450,000 rounds of small arms fire, 4,300 artillery rounds and 1,000 grenades thrown – told its own story of the enormous gun battles.A senior commander, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: "We went there to carry out reconstruction and we ended up fighting a war." For the past four months the 3,500 troops of the Helmand Task Force, based around 3 Bn the...

Paras almost retreated under Taliban assault By Tom Coghlan (Filed: 02/10/2006) British forces in southern Afghanistan came within hours of retreating from a key base because they suffered a critical shortage of helicopters, the task force commander has disclosed. In an exclusive interview with The Daily Telegraph Brig Ed Butler said Taliban fire was so heavy and accurate at Musa Qala, a key forward base in northern Helmand, that Army helicopters faced a serious risk of being hit. Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan He said the loss of such crucial equipment — together with the political...

Paras strike deep into the Taliban heartland By Thomas Harding in Kabul (Filed: 19/06/2006) British forces have scored dramatic successes against the Taliban during a lightning push deep into the lawless regions of southern Afghanistan, senior commanders revealed yesterday. The scale and effect of the operation had not previously emerged but the British force in southern Afghanistan has advanced 75 miles into the insurgents' stronghold leaving dozens of Taliban dead. Members of 3 Bn the Parachute Regiment prepare a vehicle patrol in Goreskh, Helmand province Despite suffering one dead and two seriously wounded last week, Operation Mountain Thrust has forced...

Paras kill 21 Taliban in fierce fight among alleyways By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 10/06/2006) The first significant encounter between soldiers of the Parachute Regiment and the Taliban involved close-quarters fighting among alleyways and mud buildings. It was an early indication of the challenges facing British troops recently deployed in southern Afghanistan. Within 10 seconds of disembarking from their Chinook helicopters outside the village of Nauzad, the troops came under heavy fire from insurgents hidden in houses and behind walls. As machinegun bullets and rocket-propelled grenades cut through the air, the Paras ran for cover, returning fire only when...

US calls in Paras for Baghdad secret war By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 24/04/2006) British paratroopers secretly operating in support of the SAS in Iraq are using American uniforms, weapons and vehicles as part of their cover, The Daily Telegraph has learned. Although John Reid, the Defence Secretary, only announced this week that the Special Forces Support Group (SFSG) had become operational, a company of more than 100 paratroopers has been working for six months in Baghdad. They have reportedly become so successful that American special forces have called on their help. The SFSG was formed mainly because it...

Two British soldiers killed by a roadside bomb in Amara, southern Iraq, have been named as Private Lee Ellis, 23, and Captain Richard Holmes, 28. Both were members of the Second Battalion The Parachute Regiment. Pte Ellis, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, was described as "bright, enthusiastic and immensely popular". He leaves a fiancee Sarah and a daughter Courtney. Capt Holmes, of Winchester, Hampshire, married wife Kate shortly before leaving for Iraq in October 2005. A third soldier was injured in Tuesday's blast, which brought the number of British troops killed in Iraq to 103. About 8,900 UK personnel are stationed in...

British soldiers guarding Chindit Camp near Basra yesterday had good reason to scan the shimmering mirage over the flat, dusty wasteland in front of them with extra vigilance. Suicide bombers have come here before and yesterday provided an alluring target for bombers who seek to advance their cause by killing anyone in a uniform. Parachute Regiment band members perform during the hand-over ceremony Inside the concrete block walls, a ceremony was under way. Chindit Camp is home to the local police academy and its guards, a company of Royal Welsh Fusiliers. An erratic blast of a police trumpeter accompanied by...

British paratroopers are preparing to seize Baghdad's Saddam International Airport in a bold and high-risk air assault. The operation is part of a "blitzkrieg" offensive being planned by Allied commanders in which they hope to overrun the Iraqi capital within 72 hours of the outbreak of war. British troops from 16 Air Assault Brigade will support American soldiers from the 101st and 82nd Airborne Divisions. The raid - of a kind unseen since the Second World War - will be launched within hours of President Bush giving his military commanders orders to invade Iraq, perhaps as early as this week....

Ready for anything: one of the soldiers training at Colchester. An officer said: "Whatever we get told to do we will do it" BRITAIN and the rest of the world might be divided over the wisdom of war with Iraq, but in a field on the edge of Colchester, there is only single-minded resolve. In a bone-chilling Essex gale, members of 16 Air Assault Brigade, including the 3rd Parachute Regiment, carried out last-minute equipment checks yesterday in a field near Colchester before their next overseas posting — the Gulf. For the 660 men of 3 Para, these preparations come...

The British build-up for a war against Iraq accelerated yesterday with paratroopers ordered to start readiness training and reservists told they were about to be mobilised. The Government is expected to announce mobilisation in the Commons today and to confirm that a naval task force led by the carrier Ark Royal will sail for the Gulf on Saturday. But there was continuing uncertainty within the Government over the scale of Britain's contribution to any US-led operations inside Iraq. Geoff Hoon, Defence Secretary, will fly to Turkey tomorrow to try to persuade it to allow British forces to use bases there....