Posted on 04/03/2003 9:34:32 AM PST by TonyInOhio
AN SAS patrol which ran into trouble deep inside Iraq was dramatically rescued and flown to safety, it was revealed yesterday.
There were fears the ten-man team had been slaughtered or captured after Arab TV station Al-Jazeera screened footage of Iraqis surrounding and driving a Land Rover in the town of Baaj.
The channel reported Coalition troopers had been killed in a clash at nearby Mosul — but ran no pictures of bodies or captured British soldiers.
Instead, it is believed the SAS men had abandoned their vehicles and flashed SOS messages to colleagues on their special-frequency radios.
A Chinook helicopter was scrambled to go to their aid and given a pinpoint location for the team.
The air crew then swooped out of the sky and rescued the missing men.
It is understood some of the SAS group were injured, but not seriously.
Before the airlift, they destroyed as much of their equipment as possible.
Last night highly-placed Ministry of Defence sources confirmed all the missing troopers had been rescued.
A spokesman said: “There was an extraction operation. A certain amount of equipment was lost and this has been shown on Al-Jazeera television.
“We cannot go into further details because special forces were involved.”
A senior source said: “We can’t talk about the SAS in detail. But there is no question of ten dead or captured.”
SAS and Special Boat Service teams have been operating across Iraq for the last two months.
And they have been a major help in getting British forces to Basra and the capture of the air bases H2 and H3 in the far west of the country.
The capture or killing of SAS men is one of the biggest nightmares facing defence top brass.
They fear any soldiers taken prisoner would be paraded on Al-Jazeera and Iraqi state TV.
Standard operating procedures were changed after the 1991 Gulf War, when faulty intelligence saw the SAS unit Bravo Two Zero dropped into the middle of 3,000 Iraqi troops.
Four troopers died trying to escape. One survivor said: “No one knew where we were so we couldn’t be rescued. In the latest incident the patrol would have been in constant communication with aircraft over Iraq.
“The moment they hit trouble they’d have radioed a request to be evacuated. Then the radio beacons they all carry would have led the Chinook helicopter to their precise location.”
[Except maybe Australia's and/or New Zealand's]
There are still a few of the L.R.D.G and Popski's Private Army around.
And the Gurkhas are easily their equal, if not tougher or braver.
You are aware of the two Victoria Crosses under consideration for Sasmen for their efforts in Afghanistan, aren't you?
-archy-/-
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