Phantoms of the Mountains

Tuesday, May. 31, 2005 By RORY CALLINAN

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The Australians inserted a patrol undetected to monitor the escape route. From more than 1200 meters away, high on a mountain, the patrol spotted a group of al-Qaeda figures dressed in Russian camouflage and wearing black balaclavas. They carried high-tech weapons, and appeared to be guarding a white-robed older man with a cane as they fled the battlefield.

Initially US intelligence thought the SAS had found Bin Laden, says Adam. A jet was called and dropped a 500kg bomb but it exploded over 100 meters away in a creek bed. Follow up air-raids by A-10 warthog aircraft killed a number of suspected Al Qaeda fighters but opinions are still divided about the success of the raid.

Adam says the bomb missed, resulting in the escape of the high value target, who he suspects was Tur Yuldashev, the head of the al-Qaeda-linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and a highly experienced commander. But a recently published book about the operation, written by respected US Army Times journalist Sean Naylor, has suggested the target was Al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden's personal physician and al-Qaeda's second in command. The overall commander of the operation, Major General Franklin "Buster" Hagenbeck, recently told Time he believed the high-value target had been destroyed.

Regardless of whether the bomb missed and who the target was, Adam says the mission put the SAS at the planning table in hunting Bin Laden and resulted in significant roles in other operations. When Three Squadron rotated in during April, Adam says they achieved extraordinary feats of reconnaissance - at one stage astounding the Americans with detailed pictures of weapons being smuggled across the border in a trailer being towed by a red tractor. Even the hard-to-impress British SAS were stunned by Three Squadron's patrols, says one trooper. "The Poms could only last four days. We managed seven without resupply on the first patrol,'' he says.

And their deployment was not without some larrikin Aussie humor. As One Squadron headed out of the hanger in Kuwait on their way back to Australia, their replacements farewelled them by dropping their trousers and mooning the departing soldiers. "Three Squadron had arrived in good spirits,'' says a former Three Squadron trooper.

Rory Callinan can be emailed at Rory_Callinan@timeinc.com.au