ROYAL Marine Commandos kept Taleban insurgents on the back foot as the green berets swept through southern Afghanistan.

Having driven the insurgents from the town of Kajaki, the Royals maintained the pressure to smoke out the Taleban from the surrounding area.

Operation Volcano erupted around the village of Barikju, one of the last bastions of the Taleban in the Kajaki district.

The Royals spent six weeks smoking out the insurgents, holed up in mud forts and bunkers around Kajaki.

Last month the Royals launched a successful offensive in Kajaki, the first stage in a concerted effort to restore normality to the northern regions of the troubled Helmand province.

Outside the town, the 30-year-old Kajaki dam straddles the Helmand river; it is intended to provide power to upwards of two million Afghans, but with the Taleban dominating the area, the civilian population fled, no engineers felt safe and the dam largely fell into disrepair.

“The dam needs a lot of maintenance, plus another turbine for it to work more efficiently,” said its senior engineer and manager Sayed Rasul.

“Once this happens and the surrounding area is safer, the dam will provide electricity for millions and create jobs for thousands.”

With Kajaki secured, the Royals of Mike Company 42 Commando, bolstered by 59 Independent Commando Royal Engineers and a specialist Royal Engineers Search Team, focused their efforts on 25 compounds and strongholds believed to be used by the Taleban, centred around Barikju, to the north of Kajaki.

The insurgents used these bases to direct rifle, mortar and rocket fire at the Royals in Kajaki.

“The operation went very well,” said Capt Forshaw. “We have denied the enemy the use of the area, destroyed a number of his bunker and trench systems and gathered valuable intelligence for operations in the future.”

See March’s Navy News for more images of the operation.