The SAS, the Royal Marines’ Special Boat Service (SBS) and the newly formed Special Forces Support Group, consisting of troops from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, were all involved in the largest covert operation in the area since British troops were deployed there last month.

Defence sources said there had been intelligence that four key Taleban leaders were in a compound in the village of Sangin, north of Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are based. The special forces were supported by two companies of about 100 paratroops from the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment. The soldiers from 3 Para launched an attack on the compound, providing covering fire as the snatch squad moved in and grabbed the four. They were described as “high-value targets”.

At that stage there had been no British casualties and the mission appeared to have been a success.

The snatch squad with the soldiers from 3 Para were to withdraw rapidly in Land Rovers and rendezvous with a quick-reaction force, south of Sangin village. The force consisted of about thirty Gurkhas and other paratroops armed with 105mm light guns, the only artillery the British forces have taken to Afghanistan.

The sources said that as the two units were approaching each other in the pitch dark, they were ambushed by dozens of Taleban fighters who must have been contacted after the attack. Some reports suggested that there were at least seventy-five Taleban fighters, with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and AK47 Kalashnikov rifles.

The sources emphasised that the Taleban held the advantage as they were firing from well-concealed ambush positions.

A full-scale battle ensued, with troops coming under fire for more than a hour. One soldier said: “We stood and fought very hard.” During the battle, two of the seized Taleban escaped and the other two were killed. The sources said that the two dead men were probably hit by crossfire.

It was during the battle that the two special forces soldiers were also killed. One of them was believed to be part of the Special Forces Support Group set up last year to provide extra firepower for SAS and SBS operations. The SAS and SBS are operating together in southern Afghanistan.

The British troops called for airpower to attack the Taleban ambush positions, and the major assault ended only when an RAF Harrier GR7 from Kandahar and an Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopter arrived. Up to thirty Taleban were killed, sources said.

Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, said: “The two soldiers [who died] acted with great courage and outstanding personal bravery, given the odds they faced.”

Intelligence sources said that about 1,000 Taleban fighters had come into Helmand province from Pakistan in the past few weeks, which illustrates the scale of the challenge troops are now facing.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, who is in Afghanistan, said that America would not allow “ruthless” Taleban enemies to succeed. As she was in Kabul two suicide bombers killed themselves in the southern province of Zabul in what appeared to have been a botched attack on a US convoy.

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