On the night of October 19, 2001, during the coalition invasion of Afghanistan, a squadron of Delta Force operatives supported by Rangers from Task Force Sword conducted an operation in the hills above Kandahar at a location known as Objective Gecko – its target was Mullah Omar, who was suspected to be at his summer retreat. Four MH-47E helicopters took off from the USS "Kitty Hawk" (which was serving as an SOF base) in the Indian Ocean, the assaulters met no resistance on target and there was no sign of the Taliban leader, the assaulters switched to exploiting the target location for any intelligence. As the assault teams prepared to extract, a sizeable Taliban force approached a compound and engaged the US force with small arms fire and RPGs. The Delta Force operators and Rangers engaged the insurgents and heavy firefight developed, an attached Combat Controller directed fire from the orbiting AC-130s and MH-60L DAPs, allowing the assault force to break contact and withdraw to an emergency HLZ (Helicopter Landing Zone). Some 30 Taliban fighters were killed in the firefight, there were no US servicemen killed but 12 Delta operators were wounded.