Award for military dog who bit the Taliban

BRITAIN: The special forces dog fought on under fire, even after shrapnel from Taliban grenades tore into his belly and legs, blew out a front tooth and damaged his right ear.

Mali sniffed out explosives and insurgents during a gunfight that lasted 71⁄2 hours to help a team of Special Boat Service (SBS) operators hunt down and kill more than a dozen Taliban insurgents holed up in a building in Kabul in April 2012.

Footage on Youtube shows the Belgian Malinois slung off the side of an SBS commando, who was scaling a metal ladder on the building where the militants were spraying gunfire and rockets, close to the Afghan parliament.

In recognition of his courage five years on, the military working dog, aged 8, will today be awarded the PDSA Dickin Medal, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross and the highest award for bravery given to animals that work with the armed forces.

Two members of the SBS team have already been awarded a Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and a Military Cross, making the raid one of the most decorated special forces operations since World War II.

It is the 69th time that the Dickin medal has been handed out by PDSA, the animal charity. Other recipients include 31 dogs, 32 World War II messenger pigeons, four horses and a cat.

Corporal Daniel Hatley, who trained Mali as a puppy, said he was proud of the dog, who is still serving though no longer on the front line.

‘‘The way he conducted himself when it mattered most enabled my colleagues to achieve success in close combat,’’ Hatley said.

The call of duty for Mali came on April 15, 2012. The Taliban launched a series of co-ordinated attacks in Kabul and in three other provinces across Afghanistan. Suicide bombers took over a building close to the British and German embassies and opened fire, while others took up positions in at least two other buildings close to the parliament. Rocket-propelled grenades were used in the attack and at least five civilians were killed.

Afghan security forces responded but were outgunned and flailing. As night fell, the SBS team was mobilised. Mali helped the British operators to locate the fighters. On two occasions the dog was sent through direct fire to conduct searches for explosives, enabling his handler and the rest of the team to follow with less fear of being blown up in the darkness. – The Times