London: Every war front has its own tales of exemplary bravery and this is one such story emerging from Iraq – where the international forces are battling the Islamic State terror group.
As per reports, a British Army Special Air Service (SAS) soldier single-handedly killed three Islamic State jihadists with just a Gurkha knife.
The 18-inch long curved knife, known as kukri, was given to the elite SAS trooper by a British Gurkha soldier.
It may be noted that the world-famous Nepalese Gurkha soldiers are an integral part of the British Army and live with the motto - "Better to die than be a coward"!
As per the Daily Star, the SAS soldier was ambushed along with Iraqi troops in the besieged city of Falluja where they had launched a massive assault against the Islamic State.
As per details available, the SAS and Iraqi soldiers were hunting for a sniper in a destroyed factory when they were ambushed by IS gunmen. Many of the Iraqi soldiers died in the ambush while four were seriously injured.
The British SAS soldier first pulled the injured Iraqi troops to safety while returning fire.
When his ammo got finished and he was pinned down by IS gunmen who were seeking to capture him alive, the sergeant, who had 15 years of combat experience, took his kukri out and started to wave it at the jihadists.
While one of the IS gunmen was killed with a single swipe of the kukri, the SAS trooper also managed to kill another two gunmen and further injured three others.
A senior defence source told the UK daily: “As soon as his ammunition was expended, the IS gunmen tried to storm him.
“As they went to grab him he unsheathed his kukri and began slashing away.
“He decapitated the first gunman, slit the throat of second and killed another with a third blow. He then sliced away at three others.
“The IS gunmen fled in panic allowing the SAS soldier to carry the injured men to safety.
“He expected to be killed but thought he’d take as many of the enemy with him.
“When he was reunited with Iraqi troops they thought the he was seriously wounded because he was covered in blood but he explained that the blood wasn’t his.
"He cleaned his knife, grabbed some more ammo and then led another Iraqi special forces team into battle.”
