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DURING nine days of fierce fighting in southern Afghanistan, Australian special forces killed more than 150 Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters, and suffered just six men wounded.
In the most intense battles since the Vietnam War, Diggers from the Special Forces Task Group used superior weapons and overwhelming airborne fire support from USAF AC-130 Hercules Spectre gunships.
Codenamed Operation Perth, the hardest fighting took place in July during search-and-destroy missions in the Chora district, about 40km northeast of the Australian base at Tarin Khowt, in southern Afghanistan.
Despite secrecy surrounding the 12-month special forces deployment, The Daily Telegraph can reveal previously classified details of the Diggers' campaign.
During the year-long operation the three rotations of the task group have sustained 11 casualties, including several men seriously wounded.
One commando had part of his jaw blown off, another was shot in the buttocks and an SAS specialist was hit in the abdomen. Amazingly, the round missed his vital organs.
In one action, six commandos, including the company sergeant major, who sustained leg injuries, were wounded by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Several men are to be awarded gallantry medals.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that at the height of the battle, three AC-130 Spectre aircraft ran out of ammunition.
"That was the first time for some of the crews that they have bled the magazines dry," a special forces source told The Daily Telegraph.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20402718-912,00.html
In the most intense battles since the Vietnam War, Diggers from the Special Forces Task Group used superior weapons and overwhelming airborne fire support from USAF AC-130 Hercules Spectre gunships.
Codenamed Operation Perth, the hardest fighting took place in July during search-and-destroy missions in the Chora district, about 40km northeast of the Australian base at Tarin Khowt, in southern Afghanistan.
Despite secrecy surrounding the 12-month special forces deployment, The Daily Telegraph can reveal previously classified details of the Diggers' campaign.
During the year-long operation the three rotations of the task group have sustained 11 casualties, including several men seriously wounded.
One commando had part of his jaw blown off, another was shot in the buttocks and an SAS specialist was hit in the abdomen. Amazingly, the round missed his vital organs.
In one action, six commandos, including the company sergeant major, who sustained leg injuries, were wounded by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.
Several men are to be awarded gallantry medals.
The Daily Telegraph can also reveal that at the height of the battle, three AC-130 Spectre aircraft ran out of ammunition.
"That was the first time for some of the crews that they have bled the magazines dry," a special forces source told The Daily Telegraph.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20402718-912,00.html
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