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Mission 22 -Chronology
Dai Chopan: The Taliban Trap

May 26, 2004:

US air strikes pound a newly discovered Taliban camp in the district of Kandahar province. A ground assault by about 150 US soldiers follows. Coalition forces kill 20 Taliban in one of the most deadly operations this spring.

May 29, 2004:
Four US Special Forces agents are killed outside the capital of Zabul province when a bomb explodes under their HMMWV.

Taliban guerrillas fire assault rifles and heavy machine gun artillery into a government office in southern Afghanistan. Four Afghan soldiers are killed. Eight are wounded.

June 2, 2004:

The Taliban claims responsibility for the deaths of three foreign and two Afghan workers for Médecins sans Frontières—Doctors without Borders. The humanitarians are executed in one of the safer northwestern regions of Afghanistan.

More than 100 Afghan soldiers, supported by dozens of US-led troops and helicopters, launch an offensive operation north of Kandahar where 13 insurgents are killed and eight are captured.

June 3, 2004:
US forces kill 17 militants in the mountains of southern Afghanistan in one of the bloodiest clashes in nearly a year. Three Marines are wounded in the fighting.

Taliban soldiers fire two rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire into a car carrying a government official in Uruzgan province. The official is seriously wounded. Three of his guards are injured. The rebels escape capture.

June 4, 2004:
Afghan forces pursue 50 Taliban, chasing them into the nearby mountains.

Four Taliban are killed in Zabul. Four more are killed in the Dai Chopan district.

200 Taliban militants attack a checkpoint in Dai Chopan using rocket propelled grenades. Afghan troops call for assistance from warplanes and Marine ground troops. After a four-hour firefight, eight Taliban are dead.

June 6, 2004:
Terrorists ambush a convoy of UN election workers in southeastern Afghanistan. Coalition forces help the workers flee the scene unharmed.

June 8, 2004:
The Marine’s 22nd Expeditionary Unit approaches a suspected ambush site in Dai Chopan. They’re ambushed by 100 Taliban fighters. The Marines flip the attack, killing 21 Taliban fighters and capturing four.