USSR's most famous 'special op': killing Afghani president
Published: 27 December, 2007, 07:14
It's twenty-eight years since Soviet troops stormed the highly-protected Tajbeg palace near the Afghan capital Kabul, killing President Hafizulla Amin. Operation Storm-333 was one of the first major operations in what became a long and bloody war.
President Amin had taken power a year before the attack. And while recognised by the Soviet Union as a legitimate leader, he was eventually regarded as unpredictable.
During the half-hour operation, Amin was killed despite being protected by around 300 elite guards.
RT military analyst Evgeny Khrushchev says Amin “was an embarrassment for the Soviet leadership” and the operation “was in a way a military coup d’etat”.
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