British May Be In Afghanistan

[jijaji 0]

British May Be In Afghanistan

23-Sep-2001

 

The UK Ministry of Defense refuses to discuss reports that a Special Air Service (SAS) Reconnaisance Unit disturbed Taliban soldiers a few miles from Kabul and exchanged fire with them.

The Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Times are reporting that a four man SAS unit escaped unhurt after the clash. Both papers are also reporting that the SAS has been in Afghanistan for five days and has already linked up with the Northern Alliance.

 

A Royal Navy fleet of 13 ships has passed through the Suez Canal. Meanwhile, US military planes have landed in Uzbekistan on Afghanistan's northern border, and both countries are massing air and sea power in the region.

 

In a separate story, Taliban leaders have said that Osama bin Laden is 'missing.' They claim that they have been attempting to deliver a letter to him asking him to leave the country, but have been unable to find him.

 

[jijaji 0]

SAS troops clash with Taliban unit deep inside Afghanistan

James Clark, Tony Allen-Mills

and Stephen Grey, Washington

 

 

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. Advance units of two United States army divisions are on the Afghan border preparing for strikes against the Taliban regime.

 

Units of the 82nd Airborne and 101st Air Assault Divisions arrived at bases in Pakistan, near the border towns of Quetta and Peshawar, as a huge build- up of ships, aircraft and troops ordered to the region by President George W Bush continued. A Pentagon official declared that the military was ready to respond "the second the president pushes the button".

 

US military aircraft carrying reconnaissance equipment landed yesterday at a base near Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. It also emerged that US attack helicopters are still stationed inside Uzbekistan after recent joint military exercises. Northern Alliance rebels were reported to be advancing towards Mazar-i-Sharif, a possible bridgehead into Afghanistan for American forces.

 

The coalition operation inside Afghanistan coincided with intelligence reports that any further terrorist action would be radically different from the suicide hijackings that led to three passenger planes being crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon. "They've been there and done that," said one US government adviser. "The real fear now is chemical."

 

It was revealed last night that crop-spraying planes had been grounded in America after police found evidence at a suspected terrorist hideout suggesting that plans were being made to disperse biological or chemical agents. In Britain, the security services believe the main threat could be the release of poisons into the air or the contamination of water.

 

 

 

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STAND AND FIGHT

[Gauracandra 1]

Go Britain! As President Bush said "America has no greater friend than Britain". Thumbs up to our brothers across the ocean.

 

Gauracandra

[Tarun 6]

Of course Brits r there. That's their style, motus operandi.

After they totally ruin their own country, time to ruin someone else's.

Under Royal Family's auspices. 'Royal Flush' that is.

[Guest guest]

guess what?

 

 

their still there.