US Marines strike in Afghanistan

An American, British and Afghan force swept into the city of Marja, Afghanistan, in the largest offensive operation since the initial allied invasion of the country in 2001.(AFP Photo)

The battle started when about 6,000 troops began being flown into Marja.(AFP Photo)

Gunfire, along with occasional shoulder-fired rockets and mortars, boomed throughout the day, as the Taliban surrounded the company, probing and attacking from different directions.(NYT Photo)

US marines with 1/3 Marine Weapons Company guard a man found hiding in an irrigation canal as marines battle insurgents on the northeast of Marja.

The farmer, suspected to be a Taliban spotter, was searched and released.(AFP Photo)

In a rare shot, an Afghan girl walks on as the US attack continues in Marja.

Some 15,000 soldiers, including 4,400 Afghans, are taking part in Operation Moshtarak, which aims to clear militants from the Marja and Nad Ali districts of the poppy-growing central Helmand River valley.(AFP Photo)

On the second day of the major allied offensive, an errant American rocket strike hit a compound crowded with Afghan civilians in Marja, that killed at least 10 people, including five children.(NYT Photo)

The strike came after American Marines and Afghan soldiers had been taking intense small-arms fire from a mud-walled compound in the area.(NYT Photo)

A squad from 1st Platoon crossed several hundred yards of open ground and found the dead Afghan civilians, along with several others who had been wounded.(NYT Photo)

Several helicopter gunships passed over the company as the Taliban kept firing, pushing the medical help away.(NYT Photo)

Seen here, a soldier, with a cigarette clenched in his teeth, takes cover from enemy fire in Marja, Afghanistan.(NYT Photo)

A soldier looks at a photograph of him with his wife in a tent at Camp Leatherneck, as he waits for orders to begin an assault on Marja, a Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.(NYT Photo)

An Afghan soldier ducks as he crosses an open area in Marja, Afghanistan.(NYT Photo)

Despite the heavy fighting, reports of allied casualties have been low.

The main thrust of the offensive is to smooth the way for permanent government rule in Marja, which has remained a durable Taliban stronghold since the 2001 American invasion.(NYT Photo)