LONDON, Dec 2: A hand-picked group of British special forces operatives stormed one of Osama bin Laden’s mountain strongholds missing him by just two hours, said a British Sunday paper.

Four soldiers from the elite Special Air Service (SAS) were wounded in a fierce battle in the caves of the Hada mountains, south-east of Kandahar, The Mail on Sunday said.

It was the largest deployment of SAS troops in one battle since the war in Oman in the mid 1970s, the paper added.

“We were within a whisker of getting him. It was a hard battle and will have put the fear of God into his people,” said a source close to the regiment, quoted by the paper.

“When prisoners were questioned it came out we had just missed him by about two hours,” the source added.

“The enemy were facing highly trained and disciplined troops who, although outnumbered, had the tenacity, professionalism and firepower to terrorize them. Osama knows the SAS are not far behind,” one said.—AFP