Nine Australian special forces soldiers have been wounded in a battle against Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. One has life-threatening injuries, five have serious wounds, and the other three have slight wounds.Defence says the nine were members of a Special Operations Task Group (SOTG) detachment fighting an overnight battle with the Taliban in Uruzgan province. It says several members of the Taliban were killed during the fight. The Defence Department says the soldiers were part of an ongoing SOTG operation to disrupt Taliban command and control networks.
In a statement, Defence spokesman Brigadier Brian Dawson said the wounded received immediate first aid from fellow patrol members at the scene and were evacuated by helicopter to ISAF medical faciltiies. "All nine soldiers have been evacuated from the area of the contact and are receiving the best possible medical care at present," he said in the statement. The soldiers families have been notified, the statement said.
The incident follows the death in July of 25-year-old SAS Signaller Sean McCarthy, the sixth Australian soldier to die in theatre in Afghanistan, also in Uruzgan.