Taleban suffer crushing defeat

Taleban fighters suffered one of their heaviest defeats when scores were killed in Afghanistan's southern province of Helmand.

Apache helicopters, flown by the British Army Air Corps, and local security forces inflicted the losses when the Taleban attacked the local capital, Lashkar Gah.

This was the first time in months that the insurgents had tried launching a frontal assault on a fixed position.

These tactics expose them to the superior firepower of their opponents and had been largely abandoned in favour of hit-and-run strikes and attacks on civilian targets.