Britian's SAS are some of the toughest Special
Ops units in the world. I have met and trained with
some of Britian's Commandos and can vouch for the
truth in the saying that they are "as tough as
nails!"<br>--------------------------------<br><br>"Tunnel war: SAS used knives
in hand-to-hand fight for
caves" <br>LONDON SUNDAY TIMES : ROBERT WINNETT <br>
<br>IT WAS a tough challenge for the SAS but after a
firefight lasting more than two hours 27 Taliban and
Al-Qaeda fighters lay dead, 30 were wounded and 30
captured. <br>Britain’s elite troops had taken an enemy
mountain stronghold with relative ease, although four of
them were injured and their main quarry, Osama Bin
Laden, had eluded them. <br><br>Fresh details have
emerged of the daring assault on the cave complex near
Kandahar in southern Afghanistan: it was mounted after
American intelligence said it knew where the world’s most
wanted man was — to within 85 square yards. <br><br>The
mission began in the early hours a fortnight ago, when
about 100 men from two SAS squadrons were taken by
Chinook helicopters from their base to a drop-off point
about 12 miles from their mountain target. <br><br>From
there the troops marched undetected to a series of
narrow gullies, some only a few feet wide but more than
100ft deep, where Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters had
built a network of caves, trenches and bunkers.
<br><br>Several of the Britons knew the terrain, having worked
there in the recent past on a secret operation to
undermine the Afghan heroin trade. <br><br>Some of the
trenches ran along the floors of the gullies and up their
sides. Other defences included tunnels similar to those
used by the Vietcong in Vietnam and emplacements built
out of large rocks. <br><br>It was in this heavily
fortified complex that Bin Laden was thought to be.
<br><br>The SAS plan was simple: most of the troops would
fire at a position while one or two crept close enough
to “post” hand grenades into it. <br><br>Having
flushed the enemy from one position — either killing them
or forcing them to flee — the unit would seize it
and attack the next target. <br><br>The squadrons
were in close radio contact with American air support,
which could fly overhead and bomb the larger bunker
networks, guided by SAS soldiers signalling with hand-held
lasers. <br><br>Operating under what is believed to be
the radio name Alpha One-One, the first SAS unit to
reach the gully complex was just yards away from a
bunker when it opened fire. The ferocity of the response
took the British troops by surprise. <br><br>The
Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters, armed with AK-47 assault
rifles and RPG-7 grenade launchers, showed “no regard
for their own safety”, said one source. They left
their positions and ran, firing at the SAS lines until
they were killed or wounded. <br><br>The allied
mission became a frenzied firefight in which the two
sides were often less than 12ft apart. Bullets
ricocheted off the sides of the gullies as hundreds of
rounds of ammunition were spent from all angles.
<br><br>Some SAS soldiers were also involved in hand-to-hand
combat in which knives are said to have been used.
<br><br>During the battle, which lasted 2Å hours, sources say
several enemy fighters were shot at point-blank range and
some captives were forced into revealing information
about Bin Laden’s movements by having the barrels of
machineguns shoved into their mouths. <br><br>The two SAS
squadrons came up against about 200 fighters. Under normal
British military doctrine the attacking troops should
have had a three-to-one advantage, or 600 men, before
launching the attack. <br><br>Taliban and Al-Qaeda soldiers
who were not killed or taken prisoner fled.
<br><br>Although there was no trace of Bin Laden in the mountain
hideaway, the mission was still declared a success.
<br><br>Of the four SAS soldiers injured, only one was
seriously wounded, but the toll could have been far higher
had it not been for the body armour the troops wore.
Several soldiers