WITNESS-Hunting the Taliban in southern Afghanistan

Finbarr O'Reilly is a Reuters photographer on assignment to cover Canadian NATO troops in southern Afghanistan. In the following story, he describes going into battle against insurgent forces.

By Finbarr O'Reilly

SANGSAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - The grinding metallic noise of tanks and diesel engines fade into the desert night and the only sound is our breathing and the crunch of dozens of army boots on dry earth.

It feels like we are alone in the barren, moonlit landscape, but we're not. Somewhere out there lurk the Taliban.

A cacophony of barking floats through the heavy air as dogs from nearby mud villages pick up our scent.

Foreign troops from the NATO-led coalition and the Afghan National Army (ANA) are on the hunt for Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan's southern Kandahar province.

It is a strategic point in the fight against Al-Qaeda and the Taliban drug smuggling routes into neighboring Pakistan.

As a photographer embedded with Canadian troops, I tag along for combat missions.

"When the shooting starts, your heart rate will go up to two or three times its normal rate," says a medic, explaining the body's and mind's reactions to combat.

Covering Africa for six years, I've experienced conflicts, armed clashes and civil unrest before, but I've never marched directly into battle with a unit intent on engaging the enemy.

I follow in silence for two hours as the patrol moves from the open desert into grape fields lined with mud walls providing welcome cover, but also perfect hiding ground for Taliban.

Using night vision goggles, the troops take positions around targets, mud compounds where dozens of insurgents are camped.

Then we wait. "They usually hit us at first light," says the Warrant Officer in charge of my unit.

The Muslim call to prayer drifts from mosques just before dawn. I can't help thinking that some people in these dusty fields are hearing it for the last time.

A coppery taste fills my mouth and my bowels shift uncomfortably.

UNDER FIRE