Stray rocket attack kills civilians in Taliban stronghold

Twelve Afghans died today when two rockets fired at insurgents missed their target and struck a house during the second day of Operation Moshtarak – Nato’s most ambitious effort yet to break the militants’ grip on the country’s dangerous south.

Thousands of Nato and Afghan troops encountered pockets of resistance, fighting off sniper attacks, as they moved deeper into Marjah, a town of 80,000 people that is the linchpin of the militants’ logistical and opium-smuggling network in Helmand province.