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Most of the area targeted in a major offensive against the Taliban in southern Afghanistan is now under government control, the nation's military officials said Monday, amid resistance from militants in sporadic fighting.

"Coalition forces are clearing mines and roadside bombings, and facing only scattered resistance," said Zahir Azimi, the Afghan defense spokesman.

About 15,000 Afghan and NATO forces are taking part in Operation Moshtarak, the biggest since the Afghan war started in 2001. The assault aims to wrest control of Marjah town and surrounding areas from the Taliban.

"The operation is being conducted at the request of the Afghan government and the governor of Helmand," said Master Sgt. Jeff Loftin, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Forces were in the "clearing phase" of the operation, Loftin said in a statement Monday.

Afghan and NATO troops also discovered 2,500 kg (5,500 lbs) of explosives during the operation, officials said Sunday.

The joint force also seized a Taliban commander responsible for small arms ambushes and roadside attacks against Afghan and coalition troops, according to Loftin

Forces were largely facing small arms fire, he said. Several insurgents have been killed or detained and some collation troop members have suffered injuries.

Loftin did not specify the number of militants and troops injured or killed as of Monday.

Over the weekend, provincial spokesman Dawoud Ahmadi said 27 Taliban fighters were killed.

A Taliban spokesman for the Marjah area refuted the numbers, and said there had been six Taliban casualties while militants had killed 192 troops. The Taliban has often inflated casualty figures in the past.

The U.K. military spokesman hailed the operation on Sunday, saying it's "going pretty well" and things are stabilizing.

"It is by no means over and there is absolutely no complacency," said Maj. Gen. Gordon Messenger. "People realize that the threat is very alive and out there, but so far it's going very well."

British troops are fighting in Helmand province alongside Afghan forces. A British soldier was killed in a roadside bombing on Saturday while on a car patrol in Nad Ali, but his death is not related to the operation.

"The IED is the biggest threat to our troops and it's something these guys are living with minute by minute," Messenger said.

The declaration of success comes a day after 12 Afghan civilians were killed by two rockets by coalition forces that missed their intended target as the Taliban showed stiff resistance.

"We deeply regret this tragic loss of life," U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the International Security Assistance Force, said in a statement. "The current operation in Central Helmand is aimed at restoring security and stability to this vital area of Afghanistan. It's regrettable that in the course of our joint efforts, innocent lives were lost."

McChrystal conveyed his apologies to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the statement said.

Helmand is a bastion of pro-Taliban sentiment, and awash with the opium used to fund the insurgency. Marjah, a region known as the heroin capital of Afghanistan, is where the Taliban has set up a shadow government.

The Moshtarak operation also includes securing Kandahar and providing support to the government and police there, Messenger said.

Officials said they did not know how many Taliban fighters remained in the Marjah region of Helmand province, but think they may be in the hundreds -- some of whom are holed up in civilian compounds.

"It is not unusual for the Taliban to melt away to regroup. The threat is still present in the area that they might come back, and our troops are well aware of that," Messenger said.