Battle of Mirbat

Battle of Mirbat
	Part of Dhofar Rebellion
	; The Wali's Fort. The Battle centred on the Dhofar Gendarmerie fort (not shown)
Date	19 July 1972
Location	Mirbat, South Oman16°59′33″N 54°41′31″E
Result	British/Oman sultanate victory
Belligerents
British SAS Royal Air Force of Oman	PFLOAG Guerillas
Commanders and leaders
Mike Kealy	Shaheed Salim Musalim †
Strength
10 British soldiers (9 SAS, 1 Int Corps); 25 men from Omani Gendarmerie; 30 Balochi Askari; 60 soldiers of a local firqat 3 BAC Strikemaster light attack jets Unknown number of SAS reinforcements Unknown number of helicopters	200–300 Adoo guerrillas
Casualties and losses
2 SAS soldiers killed, 2 Gendarmes killed	38 bodies recovered, 12 captured

The Battle of Mirbat (19 July, 1972) was an attack by Communist guerrillas targeting an Omani government position during the Dhofar Rebellion in the town of Mirbat, Oman. During the Dhofar Rebellion, Britain assisted the Omani government, an absolute monarchy, by sending elements of its Special Air Service (SAS) both to train soldiers and fight against the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (PFLOAG) guerrillas, also known as the Adoo. The assault was defeated after the arrival of several BAC Strikemaster attack aircraft belonging to Oman, firing rockets at PFLOAG's positions which forced the guerrillas to retreat. After the battle the British and their allies recovered the corpses of the attacking guerrillas, some were put on public display as a tool of terror, to act as warnings to potential left-wing rebels who were tempted to join the rebellion against Oman's government.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.