It's not troubling at all. Except perhaps for the terrorists who got smoked. They definitely took shots at the Australians, and they paid the price.

from MSNBC

Last week an Australian patrol came under heavy fire there for five hours, until calling in strikes by American A130 gunships, which killed 10 people who the coalition said were Taliban and al-Qaida fighters.

DISPUTE OVER AIRSTRIKE

An Afghan tribe whose fighters were killed in Thursday’s A130 strike disputed the coalition account of the fighting there. A delegation from the tribe discussed the bombing with U.S. officers Saturday at Khost airport, where American special forces are based.

The Sabari said their fighters were skirmishing with the Balkhiel tribe in a dispute over a stand of trees near their villages 30 miles north of Khost when the bombs fell. Sabari elders denied firing on the Australians or the U.S. aircraft or having links to al-Qaida or the deposed Taliban militia.

However, a U.S. military spokesman, Maj. Bryan Hilferty, said Sunday he had “no reason to believe” the tribe’s account. “They were shooting heavy machine gun and mortars at us. That is known al-Qaida and Taliban area,” he said.

Coalition forces had observed the area for several days and believed it was being used as a transit point by al-Qaida and Taliban fighters, Hilferty said.

“The operation was absolutely necessary, it was not pre-planned, it was (a) responsible operation, we went to assist the Australians,” Curry, the British military spokesman, said.

Taj Mohammad Wardak, governor of neighboring Gardez province, told Reuters on Saturday he believed the Australians came under fire from warring tribesman rather than militants from the Taliban or Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida network, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.