Afghans fear Taliban booby traps

Some Afghans were too afraid to leave their homes yesterday for fear of bombs planted by the Taliban ahead of a US-led Nato offensive on their last big stronghold in the country's most violent province.

Residents from the town of Marjah, which is expected to be the focus of the assault, and the Nad Ali district gathered in the Helmand provincial capital to discuss the operation, with elders. Their fears grew as US Marines at Camp Dwyer tried to come to terms with the possibility of facing one of the biggest killers in the fight against the Taliban - the improvised explosive device (IED).

"Our daily lives have been badly disrupted by the announ-cement of the operations," said Haji Kaka, who like other elders in the meeting, was anxious for the assault to finish.

"The Taliban have booby-trapped everywhere. We can't even come out of our homes."

The stakes may be higher than ever before in the eight-year war against the Taliban, which re-emerged as a lethal fighting force since they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001.