belfasttelegraph

Saturday 18 May 2013

Lost Afghan dog of war found after year

Australian explosive detection dog Sabi is photographed at Forward Operating Base Ripley in Tarin Kowt
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, front left, and U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of ISAF, pat explosive detection dog Sabi at Forward Operating Base Ripley in Tarin Kowt, Oruzgan Province, Afghanistan

A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year. And Sabi the black Labrador is getting a celebrity welcome home.

Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan Province in September 2008, triggering a gunfight that wounded nine troops and earned one Australian soldier the country's highest medal.

But there was no sign of Sabi after the battle and months of searching failed to find any sign of the retriever — until now.

Defence officials said yesterday that a US soldier recovered Sabi at an isolated patrol base elsewhere in Uruzgan.

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