Free Republic

AUSTRALIAN special forces have taken part in a targeted assassination of a senior Taliban leader, an operation army commanders claim will disrupt the insurgents' campaign in southern Oruzgan. Mullah Noorullah was killed in a combined operation involving coalition troops and Australian special forces, Defence said yesterday. It did not say when Noorullah was killed but did say the incident occurred in Deh Rafshan district in southern Oruzgan, where the Australian Special Operations Task Group is based. The SOTG tag is commonly used by defence as a synonym to describe elite Special Air Service operatives authorised to hunt and kill Taliban...

AUSTRALIAN special forces troops have killed a senior Taliban commander in Afghanistan in an operation expected to disrupt insurgent activity for some months. Mullah Noorullah and one other insurgent were tracked moving into a tunnel system in the Oruzgan area, where Australian forces are based. They were killed in a targeted operation, defence said. Noorullah, classed as a senior insurgent commander, was involved in the use of improvised explosive devices and rocket attacks against coalition forces. He was also understood to have been involved in the major battle with Afghan and Australian forces on April 12 in which up to...