Twelve troops Taliban just couldn't kill

By Robert Kellaway, the Mirror

Twelve army pals have been dubbed "the luckiest platoon in Afghanistan" after FIVE miraculous escapes from death during a two-month blitz by the Taliban.

Hades One Five platoon arrived at Patrol Base Hanjar, an isolated fortress near the Taliban stronghold of Sangin in January. Among the close calls were a patrol when Pte Tonga Loseli, 31, was hit three times - one bullet grazed his armpit, and two hit his body armour and medic pack. Hours later a roadside bomb went off next to Pte Adam McCurdy, who disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris - then staggered out of it unscathed. Pte David Dyer, 22, from Barnsley, was hit in the back by a sniper, but saved by his body armour.

As platoon commander Lieut Will Sutton, 29, finally pulled his battered team, from Corunna Company of the Yorkshire Regiment, out of Patrol Base Hanjar last month, his company commander told him: "Now your tour is over I can tell you - you guys are the luckiest in Afghanistan."