British bomb disposal experts have carried out their largest ever clearance of improvised explosive devices, in an Afghan village which has been the scene of intense fighting between coalition troops and the Taliban.
The small settlement of Char Coucha in Helmand province was described as a “deserted ghost town” before the eight-day finger-tip minesweeping operation.
Eighty bomb disposal experts, from the 2nd Battalion The Parachute Regiment, the British Counter-IED Task Force and the Afghan National Security Forces, diffused nine bombs and discovered nine weapons caches.
Last year Char Coucha saw coalition forces engaged in fierce battles with the Taliban, but now more than 40 families have returned and set up home, and nine checkpoints have been created to keep it secure.
Families were encouraged to return with a 'get you in pack' containing a cooker, bag of rice, sugar and plastic sheeting for roofing.
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Lieutenant Colonel Andrew Harrison, commanding officer of 2 Para, said: “Char Coucha was a deserted ghost town, choked of life by the insidious threat of IEDs.
“Thanks to the courage of my men and the counter-IED specialists who cleared Char Coucha, children are now playing in its streets and families returning.
“Every day, more people re-occupy their compounds. This ’phoenix village’ is now becoming a living memorial to those who fell fighting the scourge of the Taliban in its compounds and streets. It is an amazing story.”
Religious elder Haji Khan Agha was quoted saying: “It is a great achievement.”
In the first months of last year IEDs were responsible for 40% of civilian deaths in Afghanistan, according to figures from the United Nations, and the number of IED-related injuries or deaths has risen dramatically in the last four years.
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On Friday the Ministry of Defence confirmed Lance Corporal Stephen McKee, 27, the latest British soldier to die in action, was killed when the vehicle he was in hit an IED in the northern Dashte area of Nad 'Ali district in Helmand.
Yesterday four civilians were killed by a roadside bomb in Kandahar, while in Kabul a soldier from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed by a homemade bomb and a second was killed in a separate insurgent attack.
Also last week the bodies of Lance Corporal Liam Tasker and his dog Theo, who had found a record 14 homemade bombs and weapons caches on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan, were repatriated. Tasker was shot by a sniper and his dog, a 22-month-old springer spaniel cross, died shortly afterwards from a seizure.