Deadly Ambush in Afghanistan

Rob Maylor, former Australian SAS soldier and elite marksman has written a book 'SAS Sniper' to be released next week. It's the true story of front line action in Northern Ireland, Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan. He tells the story of his years at the front lines, from his early service with the Royal Marines in Northern Ireland then from 2003 in the elite Australian SAS. As one of Australia's most highly trained and successful combat snipers, he saw action in East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan where he won medals for gallantry in some of the heaviest fighting in the conflict.


In the book, he writes about a deadly ambush in Afghanistan and how the Dutch left them for dead. A combined Australian, American and Afghan patrol was ambushed by 150 Taliban when two attack helicopters arrived nearby. As the troops were pounded by enemy mortar, small arms and grenades near the village of Khaz Oruzgan, they thought they had been saved by the Apache helicopters.


The patrol's air-strike co-ordinator told the Dutch pilots by radio "We are in an absolute doozey of a shitfight - we need your assistance and we are taking casualties". But the pilots refused to drop under their safe height of 5000m, despite the fact Apaches are armour-plated and designed to operate under heavy fire at low altitude. "They wouldn't open up on the Taliban for fear they might draw some fire themselves" Maylor said who suffered serious shrapnel wounds during the battle.

"I honestly thought we wouldn't get out of there alive. If the bad guys had got any closer, it would have been all over for us". Another SAS soldier marked targets for the choppers using a machine gun to kick up dust clouds close to the enemy positions. But they still wouldn't engage. SG (air strike co-ordinator) had had enough so he told them "If you're not going to engage you may as well fuck off, cheers boys". And they did.

When the smoke cleared, one US soldier was dead and seven SAS soldiers and 2 engineers were badly wounded. Australian soldier Trooper Mark Donaldson, was awarded the Victoria Cross for his bravery in the battle when he rescued a wounded interpreter from the battlefield.

Eventually two F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters from a US aircraft carrier in the Arabian Gulf provided close air support in the form of two 551-pound (250 kilo) bombs and cannon fire.