The Well Church
At 02:00, Captain Park approached the entrance of the village. He moved toward the position where a Taliban guard was keeping watch over the perimeter. Because the village of Arizo Kalay was so remote, with no visitors other than the local Afghan residents, the Taliban did not maintain a strict night watch. Seeing that there were no guards near the house where the sentry was stationed, Park paused.
“Captain Park. For the sake of our extraction later, wouldn't it be better to neutralize the house where the guards are staying before we enter?”
“No. It might cause unnecessary commotion. Let’s just get in, rescue the hostages, and slip out silently.”
The team members scanned the house at the village entrance and moved inside. Captain Park felt uncomfortable with the narrow field of view provided by his night-vision goggles, but he pushed forward, heightening his vigilance over his assigned sector. As they passed the outskirts of the village, a dog that had heard their unfamiliar footsteps began to bark, and the special forces operators tensed, advancing with caution.
While they were moving along a narrow alley, an old man, awakened by the dog’s barking, opened his door and stepped out. Captain Park thrust his rifle toward the man and held a finger to his lips.
“Shh!”
The old man, perhaps guessing that these strange soldiers had come because of the hostages in the village, began to say something. “@#$$#%##$##”
Since Captain Park could not understand the man, he immediately pulled out the cable ties he had brought, bound the man’s hands and feet, and gagged him. After moving the old man to a vacant lot behind the house and leaving one team member behind to guard him, Captain Park moved deeper into the village. Fortunately, there was no movement where the hostages were held, so he dispersed his team members to the front and back of the house.
Over the radio, Captain Park gave the order to enter and pulled the door slightly. It wouldn't budge, as if locked from the inside. Captain Park fired three rounds into the lock with his suppressed rifle.
“Pew! Pew! Pew!”
The lock shattered, and the door swung open. Captain Park entered to the right while another team member entered to the left, scanning the interior.
“Clear!”
“Clear!”
The area presumed to be the living room was empty, so they stepped over the rug on the floor and headed toward the connected room. Inside, they heard the sound of someone snoring. Captain Park gently pushed the bedroom door open. Four individuals, presumed to be Taliban, were lying there. Captain Park immediately fired his rifle at the sleeping men. Before the operation, the command had emphasized that the safety of the hostages was the priority and ordered that the Taliban be killed without exception, so Captain Park did not hesitate.
A radio transmission came in from the team members who had entered from the rear.
“Multiple people detected in the room to the right!”
“Hold!”
In the house they had observed from the hideout, they had found no one other than the Taliban they had just killed. Captain Park assumed the movement was the Korean hostages and ordered a hold.
As they moved down the hallway, they searched the kitchen and a small side room but found no one. They encountered the team members who had entered from the rear in front of the innermost room. When Captain Park pointed at the door, the team member slid the latch to the side, making a faint noise. There were six people in the room, and one of them, awakened by the noise, asked, “Wh... who is it?”
Upon hearing Korean, Park replied, “This is the Republic of Korea rescue team.”
“Oh! God. Thank you for answering my prayers.”
As the other hostages woke up and began to weep, Captain Park and his team members held their fingers to their lips, requesting silence.
“Is there anyone here who cannot walk?”
Everyone shook their heads, as there were no major health issues. “We will leave one by one now. You must remain quiet until we are out of the village. Please follow the soldier in front of you and move silently.”
The hostages stood up and began to pack their belongings.
“Leave all your belongings behind.”
After a moment of hesitation, the hostages dropped their items and began to follow the lead soldier out of the house. Once outside, Captain Park immediately radioed the team member guarding the hostages via the Starlink radio.
“Prepare for extraction!”
Scanning the surroundings, Captain Park retraced their steps. The dog they had heard earlier was barking even louder now.
“Ignore it for now and get out of the village first.”
As they increased their pace, the noise of their footsteps grew louder, and as the dog barked more fiercely, lights began to turn on in several houses. Since no one had come out yet, Captain Park ordered them to speed up. When they reached the house where they had tied up the old man, the team member who had been waiting joined them, and the unit headed toward the village entrance at a fast walk.
Lights turned on in the house where the Taliban guard had been, and movement was visible. Captain Park raised his hand to give the order.
“Stop!”
Anticipating an attack from the rear, Captain Park decided to neutralize the house with the Taliban guard before leaving. He ordered the rest of the team to withdraw while he and one team member remained behind. As they aimed their rifles at the lit Taliban house, waiting for the hostages to clear the area, they noticed the door opening.
A faint shadow appeared as the door opened, and Captain Park immediately fired his rifle. A thud followed as someone collapsed. Exchanging glances with his team member, Captain Park entered the open door. A Taliban fighter emerging with a rifle looked at Park with a panicked expression. The team member waiting beside him immediately fired, neutralizing the fighter, and they began a search. Fortunately, there were no others besides the two Taliban, so they followed the path the hostages had taken and quickly caught up.
After securing enough distance, they headed toward the location of the prepared vehicles, and Captain Park radioed the operation headquarters.
“This is Bravo!”
“This is Nest. Report!”
“Six hostages rescued! Moving to the extraction point.”
At the news that more hostages had been rescued, the operation headquarters erupted in light cheers. Section Chief Choi, who received the transmission, ordered, “Verify the identities of the six and report back!”
“Copy that!”
Section Chief Choi listened to the Bravo team’s update while focusing on the video feed from the drone. Despite news that other teams had succeeded in their rescues, he grew tense watching the engagement of the NIS special team that had entered the Aji-restan village. Even though the medium-altitude drone had provided the Taliban’s location, there were too many of them, leading to a fierce firefight.
The Starlink Aviation staff were continuously providing the Taliban’s locations to Alpha Team, but Alpha Team was being surrounded from the front and rear.
“Seven approaching from the front left and right, five approaching from the rear.”
Alpha Team leader Shin Jae-hoon cursed the command for sending them in without enough time to review the operation, while continuing to fire to eliminate the Taliban in front of him.
Watching the engagement in real-time via the drone, Section Chief Choi asked, “Did the support team take the Switchblades?”
“We were short on personnel, so everyone was deployed to the operation team. There are no Switchblades left.”
“Damn it……!”
Section Chief Choi requested the Starlink Aviation staff to prepare for an air-to-ground missile launch.
“Please launch one missile at the front and one at the rear.”
The Starlink Aviation staff member replied, “I’ve launched inert rounds before, but this is my first time firing live ordnance.”
“I know. The situation is urgent, so we have no choice. Fire.”
The Starlink Aviation staff member launched one missile at the front and immediately radioed in.
“Front missile launched! Watch out for the shockwave. Another will be launched at the rear shortly.”
Team leader Shin Jae-hoon, who was in the middle of the firefight, shouted when the sudden transmission came through.
“Everyone, find cover!”
A moment later, a sharp sound was followed by an explosion on the front left, and the enemy’s attack ceased. Peeking out, Team Leader Shin fired aimed shots at the remaining Taliban on the right, neutralizing them, and moved forward.
As the missile fired at the front exploded, the Starlink Aviation staff member immediately fired a missile at the rear area. Alpha Team used that opportunity to neutralize the Taliban in the rear. The team member assigned to the rear area fired aimed shots at the Taliban who were lying on the ground, groaning after surviving the missile blast, and radioed in.
“Rear clear!”
Hearing that the rear was clear, Team Leader Shin headed toward the target village chief’s house. He approached cautiously, knowing that the Taliban inside would be on high alert due to the sound of the firefight.
Knowing that they would be fired upon the moment they entered the door, Team Leader Shin threw in a flashbang first. When the explosion and light erupted inside, he immediately entered and fired aimed shots at the Taliban who were stumbling, covering their eyes.
“Move in! Watch out, there might be hostages.”
The three team members who entered with him split into two-man teams to search the rooms. The first room was empty, so they shouted “Clear” and moved to the next. When they opened the small room, they saw a woman and a child who appeared to be locals trembling inside. He lowered his muzzle and closed the door. He breathed a sigh of relief, having nearly committed a friendly fire incident against civilians.
When they opened the next room, an old man was holding a phone and saying something. Team Leader Shin approached with his rifle raised. He wanted to kill him, but he decided to hold back because of the woman and child he had seen earlier. He approached, aiming his rifle. The old man shouted something loudly, but since they couldn't communicate, Team Leader Shin removed his hand from the rifle cover to hold a finger to his lips. At that very moment, the team member who had entered behind him fired his rifle at the old man.
Team Leader Shin looked at his team member with a puzzled expression, and the team member pointed to the rifle next to the old man. Moving to the next room, Team Leader Shin discovered eight hostages and verified their identities.
“This is the Republic of Korea’s National Intelligence Service. Are you Korean?”
The hostages, perhaps terrified by the sound of gunfire, nodded instead of answering. After a quick search of the room, the team members guided the hostages outside.
Once outside, the team members were scanning the perimeter, waiting for Team Leader Shin. He placed the hostages in the center of the pre-arranged formation and began their retreat. Since the sound of gunfire had surely awakened everyone in the village, Team Leader Shin instructed them to fire immediately if they saw any human shapes, and they began to leave the village. Suddenly, he cursed at the radio transmission.
“An armed truck is approaching the escape route. Retreat toward the back.”
Hearing that an armed truck was coming to the village entrance where the main road was, they changed direction through the chief’s house toward the back of the village, increasing their speed while scanning in all directions. To protect the team, Team Leader Shin moved backward at the very rear, watching the rear with one team member, and fired immediately upon seeing men who appeared to be Taliban.
The Taliban fired back while hiding behind cover, and the team member assisting him let out a groan.
“Did you get hit?”
“Yes. It just grazed me.”
“Can you still shoot?”
“Yes.”
Team Leader Shin fired at the pursuing Taliban while looking to his side, seeing the team member apply a tourniquet to his arm and immediately grip his rifle again. As the Taliban’s fire continued, Team Leader Shin ordered his team to prepare smoke grenades and get ready to throw.
“Throw on three. Two, three!”
As the smoke grenades detonated and filled the area with smoke, Team Leader Shin and his team immediately began their retreat.