Elite Artillery Unit Foils Afghanistan Attack
16.11.2007
Reports from the UK Ministry Of Defence (MOD) have revealed an incident in which men from 4/73 Special Observation Post Battery defeated a Taliban suicide bomb attack on their convoy.
A couple of days previous to time of writing, the unit was patrolling through a crowded town in Helmand Province, Afghanistan when a bomber driving a white car attempted to blow up their convoy of Pinzgauer 4x4 trucks. The car approached the convoy as it moved through the busy streets. When the intentions of the driver became clear, a soldier in the rear Pinzgauer opened fire. The driver was hit and swerved off track before detonating the vehicle's bomb. The resulting explosion killed the driver and an innocent Afghani motorcyclist. Had the attacker not been forced off course, the bomb would have killed many more Afghanis as well as British troops.
4/73 Battery are an elite cadre within the Royal Artillery who specialise in long range reconnaissance, intelligence gathering and directing artillery and air strikes. The unit is acting as the reconnaissance for 52 Brigade in Afghanistan.
Further reading:
British soldiers defeat Taliban suicide attack
(MOD Report)
