Шторм-333 · 27 December 1979

Operation Storm-333

슈토름-333 작전

The Soviet KGB and GRU special operation on 27 December 1979 that stormed the Tajbeg Palace in Kabul and killed Afghan leader Hafizullah Amin, opening the Soviet-Afghan War. Around 650 troops from KGB Alpha Group (Grom) and Zenit, the GRU 154th Separate Spetsnaz Detachment (Muslim Battalion), and the 345th Guards Airborne Regiment seized the heavily fortified palace in roughly 40 minutes; some 200 Afghan guards and Amin died. It was the centerpiece of Operation Baikal-79, which installed Babrak Karmal as the new head of state.

Related people

Hafizullah Amin Babrak Karmal Yuri Drozdov Vadim Kirpichenko

Related historical events

Sources

  1. Wikipedia RU, Штурм дворца Амина: operation codenamed Шторм-333, involved KGB groups Grom and Zenit, GRU Muslim Battalion, and 345th Airborne Regiment; ~40-minute assault; about 200 Afghan guards killed.
  2. Wikipedia EN, Operation Storm-333: military raid on Tajbeg Palace 27 Dec 1979, killed Hafizullah Amin, part of larger Operation Baikal-79, marked start of Soviet-Afghan War.
  3. RFE/RL, Frud Bezhan, Poisonings, Assassination, And A Coup: The Secret Soviet Invasion Of Afghanistan (27 Dec 2019): detailed eyewitness accounts of the assault, the poisoning attempt on Amin earlier that day, and the coordinated seizure of Kabul.
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