Afghanistan War News Updates -- July 5, 2009

U.S. troops search a compound in Mian Poshteh in their operation in southern Afghanistan. The Taliban attack on a U.S. post in Paktika, near the Pakistan border, was seen as a sophisticated, multi-pronged assault. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Marines Battle Heat, Small-Arms Fire In Afghanistan -- Dallas News/AP

NAWA, Afghanistan – Taliban militants were nowhere in sight as columns of U.S. Marines walked for a third day Saturday near this town in southern Afghanistan, but the desert heat proved an enemy in its own right.

Elsewhere, Marines taking part in a major offensive in Helmand province came under sporadic small-arms fire Saturday, but for the Marines of Bravo Company in Nawa, heat was the biggest threat. Several troops fell victim Saturday to temperatures topping 100 degrees.

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U.S. Marine Cpl. Brian Knight, of Cincinnati, Ohio, with the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, 1st Battalion 5th Marines, pauses briefly in the heat to rest with his heavy pack filled with mortar equipment, ammunition, food, and water in the Nawa district in Afghanistan's Helmand province Saturday, July 4, 2009. Taliban militants attacked a U.S. coalition base in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday with an explosives-laden truck that blew up outside the gates, sparking a two-hour gunbattle and killing two American troops, officials said.(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

More News On Afghanistan

US Marines battle hard during Afghan offensive -- AFP
Marines march in grueling Afghan sun for July 4 -- AP
2 British soldiers killed in southern Afghanistan -- Yahoo News/AP
Roadside Bomb Kills Two British Soldiers in Afghanistan -- Wall Street Journal
2 U.S. Soldiers Killed in Taliban Attack -- New York Times
In Afghanistan, 2 U.S. soldiers killed in attack on base -- L.A. Times
Nearly 4 dozen people killed in uprising Afghan violence -- China View
British troops in final push to clear out insurgents -- Independent
Lack of helicopters in Helmand costing lives of British troops -- The Telegraph
Q+A - What next for Afghanistan's Operation Khanjar? -- Reuters
Earn our trust or go, Afghan villagers tell Marines -- Yahoo News/Reuters
Pakistani jets pound Taliban on Afghan border -- Yahoo News/Reuters
New US Offensive in Southern Afghanistan Puts Pakistani Military on Alert -- Voice of America
Afghan-Pakistani Hostility Impedes U.S. Troops -- Washington Post
Offensive is first test for Obama's Afghanistan strategy -- AFP
Running Out Of Options, Afghans Pay For an Exit -- New York Times
Fourteen Afghan mine clearers abducted: ministry -- Yahoo News/AFP
Soldier who fought in pink boxers home for the 4th -- AP
The 'moderate' Taliban -- Washington Times opinion
The soldiers give all, while the politicians starve them of cash -- The Guardian