"Three o'clock on the right! RPG!"
Jiang Feng's roar came amid the gunfire.
Song Heping reflexively rolled over, and the rocket skimmed the MOLLE webbing of his tactical vest, exploding five meters behind him.
The shock wave made his eardrums ache, he spat out the sand in his mouth, raised his gun, and pinned the armed man with the launcher to the wall—three consecutive rounds of 5.45×39mm 7N22 armor-piercing bullets penetrated the opponent's chest, blooming three blood flowers on the brick wall behind.
This time, the ammunition Utekin provided to Song Heping and others were mostly armor-piercing bullets.
After all, those chasing them were GRU agents, and they all wore thick bulletproof vests.
Ordinary steel bullets gradually could not meet the need to penetrate bulletproof vests; to ensure a one-shot kill, armor-piercing bullets were necessary.
The 7N22 (5.45BP) armor-piercing bullet appeared in 1998. The warhead weighed 56.9 grains, using U12A high-carbon steel to create a 27-grain pointy steel core, retaining the lead block at the tip, with excellent penetration.
"Government army infantry company is outflanking to encircle!"
Utekin's voice came from the shattered window on the second floor, the muzzle flash of the Russian-made SVDS sniper rifle was eye-catching in the night.
"The Freedom Army is retreating!"
Song Heping turned his head and shouted, "Jiang Feng, take the SWAT team to block the west alley! Don't let them..."
Bang bang bang—
Bang bang bang—
The words weren't finished.
The 30mm autocannon of the BMP-2 suddenly roared, and the large-caliber armor-piercing shells cut the six rebels trying to escape from the direction of the gas station in half.
Intestines and shreds of flesh hung on the twisted guardrail, swaying left and right in the airflow whipped up by the autocannon shells.
"Damn..."
A young SWAT officer hiding behind the ruined door, Amir, knelt down on the ground, his face as pale as snow.
As an urban SWAT officer, he had never seen such brutal scenes.
Song Heping grabbed this rookie participating in actual combat for the first time, pushing him behind cover: "You go to the second floor, set up the PKM at the window! Fire in long bursts, intercept those Freedom Army trying to escape for the government army, let them complete the encirclement!"
He pried open the other's tightly clenched fist, patted his shoulder, instructing in an old soldier admonishing a newbie tone: "Remember, take a deep breath before pulling the trigger, shoot in bursts, don't fire randomly."
The battle turned around within fifteen minutes.
Three BMP-2s formed a wedge attack formation, and the machine gun fire on their rooftops covered the entire street.
The government army infantry advanced using skilled small group attack tactics.
The Freedom Army's suicidal charges became a one-sided massacre in front of the regular army, and surviving rebels began fleeing toward the sewage treatment plant in the east of the city.
"Tiger Group, first company! Charge!"
A squad of soldiers wearing tiger head patches on camouflage uniforms burst out from the thick smoke, led by an officer holding an AK-74M with a GP-25 grenade launcher, the tiger emblem on the gun stock flashing in the firelight.
Two machine gunners behind him carried PKP machine guns, the 7.62×54mmR ammunition belts rattled as they ran.
Tiger Group?
Song Heping's pupils suddenly contracted—this reminded him of the Night Tiger Group; any unit with a tiger codename was generally quite fierce.
From the tactical performance of this suddenly emerging company-sized government army, it truly deserved the title "Tiger".
It seemed, without needing his own aid in the attack, the group could handle it themselves.
He quickly turned and shouted, "Everyone, attention, allied troops entering! Repeat, allied troops entering! Don't go out, stick to the police station and assist in interception!"
Going out together to chase the Freedom Army was clearly not a wise choice at this time.
In the dark, it was difficult to distinguish friend from foe, and both sides had no identification systems, nor had they conducted joint training, making friendly fire very likely.
It turned out Song Heping's judgment was correct.
In less than fifteen minutes, the battle was over.
The last wave of resistance ended at 03:17.
Utekin came over and whispered, "Tiger Group, new elite unit, hard to beat, their main force should be in Aleppo, why are they here?"
"Hussein!"
Song Heping called out to Hussein.
"You go and have a chat with them."
"Okay."
Hussein slung his gun behind him, raised his hands, and walked out of the police station door.
"We're the SWAT team from Latakia Police Station, I'm the captain, Hussein! Don't shoot! We're on the same side!"
In the distant street, the gun that had been aimed at Hussein lowered its sight.
While Hussein went out to liaise, Song Heping quickly issued orders to Jiang Feng: "Count the ammunition."
As he spoke, he loosened the quick-release buckle of his tactical vest; there was a dent on the left side of the bullet-proof plate on his back with a fragment stuck in it, probably hit during the RPG explosion earlier.
Luck was relatively good, apart from this injury, the rest were just scratches, not a big deal.