KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Dispatches) — Minivans piled high with mattresses and clothing lined up at checkpoints as hundreds of civilians fled a Taliban-controlled area ahead of a planned NATO offensive in southern Afghanistan.

The militants, meanwhile, dug in for a fight, reinforcing their positions with rocket-propelled grenades and heavy weapons, according to witnesses.
NATO’s senior civilian representative, Mark Sedwill, said that Afghan civilians have been warned “to keep their heads down” when U.S.-led NATO forces launch a planned military offensive in southern Helmand province.
Sedwill admitted on Tuesday that fighting around the town of Marjah, currently under the control of Taliban, was likely to prompt an exodus from the area. The offensive in Marjah – a farming community and a major opium-production center -- will be the first since President Barack Obama announced he was sending 30,000 additional troops.
Thousands of U.S. marines, NATO and Afghan troops are massed in the region, around 20km south of Lashkar Gah, for Operation Mushtarak which aims to drive Taliban out of the region.
About 100,000 people are believed to live in the area. Authorities have not advised people to leave the Marjah area but have warned them to stay inside and avoid road travel once the operation begins.
U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said the success of the operation depends on convincing civilians that the government will improve services once the militants are gone.
U.S. officials have long telegraphed their intention to seize Marjah. McChrystal said the element of surprise was not as important as letting citizens know that an Afghan government will be there to replace Taliban overlords and drug traffickers.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said there was no way to count the number of people who have left Marjah because many have moved in with relatives or rented houses in nearby towns instead of registering for emergency relief.
ICRC spokesman Bijan Farnoudi noted a first aid post in Marjah had recorded an increase in patients with battle wounds in the last few weeks.
He said the organization was poised to react quickly if a refugee crisis arises. “The burden on families taking in relatives for an extended amount of time can be significant,” he said.
Ghulam Farooq Noorzai, the head of the provincial refugee department, estimated that 90 to 100 families had left the Marjah area because of concerns about the operation. Afghan families have an average of six members, according to private relief groups.
Refugee officials held an emergency meeting last week and decided to stockpile food and erect five big tents on a school compound in the nearby provincial capital Lashkar Gah to accommodate any influx, he said.
The Taliban were not preventing villagers from leaving but were digging trenches and carrying in new heavy weapons on motorbikes.
Taliban claim new IED
The Taliban claimed Tuesday to have developed a new bomb nicknamed Omar after their fugitive leader and which they say is impossible Western mine sweepers to detect.
The biggest killer of Western troops in Afghanistan are home-made bombs, known as improvised explosive devices or IEDs, which the Taliban deploy to wide effect in their eight-year insurgency and detonate by remote control.
Western military intelligence officials have said most foreign troop deaths, which hit a record 520 last year, are caused by IEDs.
Photo: U.S. soldiers train Sunday in Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, where NATO and Afghan forces are expected to launch an offensive soon. (Pier Paolo Cito/AP)