With Afghanistan experiencing its bloodiest fighting in years, the NATO-led force operating in the south of the country has launched a major offensive against the Taliban insurgency. Operation Medusa is NATO's biggest thrust against the Islamic militants since taking over control of operations in southern Afghanistan this summer. NATO said over 200 militants had been killed in the offensive, but at least 20 NATO troops have also died.

More than 2,000 NATO and Afghan soldiers are taking part in the operation, which was launched on Saturday and includes the use of heavy artillery and air strikes. The fighting is concentrated in the Panjwayi area, near the southern city of Kandahar. An increasingly active Taliban has made the region into its stronghold and much of the fighting between the militants and coalition forces has been concentrated there in recent months.

Afghanistan is currently experiencing its most intense fighting since the hard-line Islamist Taliban regime was overthrown by United States-led forces in late 2001. More than 2,000 people have been killed so far this year, mostly militants, but also civilians, aid workers, Afghan security personnel and over 100 foreign troops. The NATO-led troops, the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), which took over from the US-led coalition in the southern part of the country on July 31, is faced with the difficult task of eradicating the resurgent Taliban threat and reimposing the central government's authority in the region.

According to NATO, the offensive has already resulted in the deaths of around 200 Taliban fighters and the arrest of another 80. However, a spokesperson for the Afghan Defense Ministry, Gen. Zahir Azimi, told the BBC that only 89 militants had died.

NATO troops also suffered casualties during the offensive. On Saturday, a British military aircraft, a Nimrod MR2, which was supporting the operation, crashed, killing all 14 British military personnel on board. While the Taliban claimed it had shot down the aircraft, the British authorities insist that the crash was the result of technical failure. On Sunday, four Canadian troops were killed in action and a further seven NATO troops were injured. According to Reuters, a Canadian soldier was killed by friendly fire on Monday, after troops called in air support during a battle at close quarters with Taliban fighters, and were fired upon by their own warplanes.