Sniper teams attacked US Marines and Afghan troops across the Taliban haven of Marjah in Afghanistan as several gun battles erupted on the third day of a major offensive to seize the extremists’ southern heartland.

The fiercest military offensive on the Taliban since the conflict in Afghanistan began has so far gone “as well as it could have done”, British Army chiefs said today.

US Marines and Afghan soldiers stormed the Taliban-held town of Marjah today, as a major offensive began to break the extremists’ grip over a wide area of their southern heartland and re-establish government control.