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(Image: GETTY STOCK)

The sergeant had followed the militants into a cave complex in northern Afghanistan.

He had already shot dead three other Taliban when his Glock sidearm failed.

The SAS man, a 29-year-old from the Midlands, had volunteered to track them down underground after their base was attacked in a special forces raid.

Operating in almost complete darkness, the soldier used sound, smell and touch to identify and kill the men.

(Image: Alamy stock photo)

The mission took place in January but can only now be revealed.

A joint British and Afghan special forces operation was launched against a terrorist base in the north of the country, which was home to a senior foreign commander.

Once the commandos attacked, several Taliban – including the senior commander – fled into a cave complex and descended into a series of tunnels less than two feet wide and four feet high.

They were barely large enough for a man to move along and were reminiscent of those used by the Viet Cong fighters to attack US troops during the Vietnam War in the 1970s.

Our source said: “The mission had only been partially successful because the base was destroyed, but the SAS were after a ‘high-value target’ and he had escaped into the tunnels.”

“It was pretty clear none of the Afghan commandos was going to go in after him so he volunteered.”

“There wasn’t enough room to use a long-barrelled weapon so the Brit used his Glock 9mm pistol and grabbed a claw hammer.”

“He couldn’t see the Taliban but he could hear and smell them. He shot three of them dead one after the other but then his pistol jammed.”

“He fought two more in the dark where the tunnel opened into a larger room which was partially lit by a candle. After he killed those two, he was attacked by another but killed him almost instantly with a single blow.”

“It was a brutal fight to the death. The SAS sergeant emerged from the tunnel half an hour later covered in blood, both his own and those of the men he had killed.”

The soldier was unable to speak for at least an hour because he was so traumatised.

He later said the air was so thin it was almost impossible to breathe.

The SAS man, an Iraq veteran, later said that the 30 minutes he spent in the tunnels was the hardest of his entire military career.