FWIW <Elite British troops, already in Afghanistan, have been involved in a minor clash with Taliban soldiers, the Sunday Times reported. SAS troops in Afghanistan have been fired upon by Taliban soldiers in the first clash of the campaign against global terrorism. Nobody was hurt, military sources said, adding that the gunfire had been "more symbolic than directed".
They suggested that the small SAS team had "spooked" Taliban soldiers near Kabul, who had fired indiscriminately before fleeing. However, the incident marks an escalation in what has so far been only an intelligence war. The Taliban are in a high state of alert for coalition forces waiting to enter their country.
It is rare for Ministry of Defence insiders to confirm that their forces have been involved in skirmishes, but a source close to the SAS said there had been a clash late on Friday. SAS troopers, together with members of MI6 and the CIA, are working with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the search for Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi-born millionaire believed to have masterminded the suicide hijacker attacks on America 12 days ago in which 6,818 are feared to have died.
They are seeking intelligence about Bin Laden's whereabouts, the location of mines, routes he might take out of the country and the help of guides for later operations. Unlike their American counterparts, SAS troopers specialise in long-term operations behind enemy lines, making them ideal for intelligence-gathering missions in Afghanistan. The soldiers involved in the clash with the Taliban were believed to be from a four-man unit that had crossed the border, possibly from Tajikistan. The SAS men on the ground are communicating with commanders via RAF Nimrods from the secretive 51 Squadron, using state-of-the-art "squirt" radios to transmit large amounts of data in seconds, helping avoid either interception or pin-pointing by the enemy. American forces are also on the move. > |
