Sangin
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Sangin(population 14 000) is a town in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.It is located on in the valley of the Helmand River at 888 m altitude,95 km to the North of Lashkargah. Sangin is notorious as one of the central locations of the opium trade in the south of Afghanistan, and is also a town that has traditionally supported the Taliban[1]. Sangin also houses the main bazaar for Sangin District.
On 31 July 2005 a UN convoy of six vehicles came under attack by Taliban forces laying in ambush some 2 km south of the town. All personnel including the international UN staff member managed to escape by reversing their route only to come under fire by a US Army patrol of Humvee vehicles that were advancing to the location of the fire fight. Two Afghan personnel, 1 driver and the armed guard commander from the Ministry of Interior were wounded by the friendly fire and evacuated by helicopter to Kandahar. The armoured UN vehicle that the UN worker was travelling in was unable to be driven due to being hit with approximately 15 rounds of fire including two rounds from a .50 callibre machine gun. The retreating Taliban were identified crossing the nearby river some 1500 metres to the West and were killed by a single 500lb bomb delivered by air support from a USAF B-52 bomber.
As of Summer 2006, British and Canadian troops have established a forward operating base on the outskirts of the town and are engaged in heavy fighting with Taliban insurgents and allied opium traffickers. A number British troops were killed during fighting in the town, including Cpl Bryan Budd (3 PARA) who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhLn1gR92pk Video of Americans fighting in Sangin
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