for all. The fighting during Operation Medusa led the way to the second, and most fierce, Battle of Panjwaii during which the Canadians experienced daily gun-battles, ambushes, and mortar/rocket attacks. The Taliban had massed with an estimated 1,500 to 2,000 fighters and they were reluctant to give up the area. After being surrounded by the Canadian Forces, they dug in and fought a more conventional style battle. After weeks of fighting, the Taliban had been cleared from the Panjwaii area and Canadian reconstruction efforts in the area began. NATO reported it had killed more than 500 suspected Taliban fighters. During Operation Medusa, the Canadians were supported by US, British, Dutch and Danish forces. The PzH 2000 howitzer made its combat debut with the Dutch Army as artillery fire support. A major NATO offensive called Operation Mountain Fury was launched in September 2006 to clear Taliban rebels from the eastern provinces of Afghanistan. The fighting was intense with a number of coalition casualties and heavy Taliban loses. Along with the Canadians and Dutch, the British were a major contributor to the expanded NATO mission in southern Afghanistan in 2006. Having initially been deployed as part of Operation Veritas in 2001, British forces had played a supporting role to the Americans, but in 2006 the size of Britain's deployed forces was expanded as part of Operation Herrick. Throughout the year, around 5,000 British Armed Forces personnel deployed to Afghanistan, mainly in Helmand Province. They subsequently saw heavy fighting, particularly in the Sangin District. NATO forces began reconstruction efforts after the major combat operations of Operation Medusa had ceased. But the British and Canadians still encountered fierce fighting. The Canadian involvement in Operation Mountain Fury was stepped up when they mounted an operation of their own called Operation Falcon's Summit on December 15, 2006. During Falcon Summit, the Canadians gained control of several key villages and towns that were former Taliban havens, such as Howz-E Madad. During the first week of the operation, massive Canadian artillery and tank barrages were carried out in a successful attempt to clear pockets of Taliban resistance. An analysis of the coalition casualty figures from May 1 to August 12, 2006 by Sheila Bird, vice-president of the UK's Royal Statistical Society, revealed that during the period, an average of five coalition soldiers were killed every week by the Taliban, twice the death rate suffered during the 2003 invasion