http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,22492129-601,00.html?from =mostpop
September 27, 2007 AUSTRALIAN soldiers in Afghanistan have seen their heaviest fighting yet, holding off an attack from about 50 Taliban extremists. The four-hour firefight happened about eight kilometres north of Tarin Kowt in the Oruzgan province some time in the past week, defence said. >From the cover of an orchard, the Taliban fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons at Australian soldiers helping to construct an Afghan police outpost. Defence said the Taliban suffered heavy casualties in the attack, but would not release details. No Australian soldiers were wounded, nor were there any civilian casualties, and there was no damage to Australian vehicles, officials said. Intense fighting went on for about four hours, with the Australians helped by Dutch F16 fighter aircraft and Apache helicopters. "We were engaged with some very accurate fire from a range of about 300 metres and there were a lot of bullets coming our way," Lieutenant Glenn Neilson said in a statement. "Making use of all the weapons we had at our disposal, including the Australian Light Armoured Vehicle and Bushmaster Infantry Mobility Vehicle, we held our ground." Local Afghan troops, who had been trained by the Australians, helped fight off the Taliban soldiers, who established strong firing positions and were reinforced with more men as the attack progressed, defence said. The Taliban attack was the latest in a series of recent assaults in both Oruzgan Province and the neighbouring Helmand Province, in which defence said the insurgents had been defeated each time. Commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Harry Jarvic said the soldiers' success was due to their skill and determination. "Over the last few months Australians have been regularly tested by Taliban extremists. In every case they have performed magnificently," he said. Footage of the firefight has been released on the defence force website <http://www.defence.gov.au/opslipper/images/gallery/20070927/index.htm> . [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
