Black Watch troops flushed with success after assault on Taleban drug hub

Published on Saturday 27 June 2009 19:44

SCOTS troops in Afghanistan last night re-lived the operation to drive the Taleban out of an area linked to the opium trade.

Troops from the Black Watch, the 3rd Battalion the Royal Regiment of Scotland, launched an assault on Babaji in Helmand Province eight days ago.

Some of the soldiers are still there waiting to be relieved, but others have returned to the Nato air base in Kandahar.

There they spoke of their pride at the success of Operation Panchai Palang, or Panther's Claw.

Sergeant Steven Noble, 29, from Galashiels, was among the 350 Black Watch troops we were dropped off in Babaji by Chinook helicopters in one of the biggest co-ordinated air operations of modern times.

His helicopter was hit by small arms fire as it landed, although nobody was hurt.

At one point he and nine other men found themselves being fired on from six different places as they attempted to hold a vulnerable position, which they dubbed 'the Alamo'.

He calmly described the first days of the operation as "quite hairy", adding: "It tailed off in the middle two days."

Noble, who has spent 11 years in the military and is part of a platoon of volunteers from 1 Scots, praised the bravery of his men, who jostled to be allowed to attack gunmen from the roof.

"You can't have everybody on the roof, and I found myself fighting to get the Jocks off the roof," he said. "They're definitely wild horses, but they're good at what they do."

Private Christopher Simpson, 25, a signaller from Glenrothes, described the "arduous" conditions of humid weather and dust that the men from the Black Watch endured.

He said it meant a lot to him and his comrades for the operation to be publicised back in the UK. "When I've been phoning home, my dad's been telling me it's all over the news," he said. "He was in the Black Watch – it's a family tradition. He's very proud."

Captain Samuel Newson, 28, from the village of Prestwood in Buckinghamshire, is second in command of the Black Watch's A Company. He said: "At Babaji there's a drugs bazaar. It's a central node for drugs that come in, therefore it's a source of revenue for the Taleban.

Newson said the soldiers had not seen how big the air drop was – including 12 Chinooks, with support from 13 other aircraft – until they landed.

"We don't tend to be aware of that, because we are sat in the back hunkered down," he said.

"As we landed and ran off the back of the helicopter, we looked left and right and saw the other five – the skies were very busy."

He added: "We had dominated an area which normally belongs to the enemy. That gives the guys a high."

Even members of the Black Watch who did not take part in the operation wished they had.

Corporal James Cooper, 23, from Livingston, was injured in a previous mission. "I would still rather be on operations than stuck on guard duty," he said.