MIA dog found in Afghanistan after 14 months

SYDNEY – A bomb-sniffing dog that disappeared during a fierce battle in Afghanistan between Australian troops and militant fighters has been found and returned to its unit after more than a year. And Sabi the black labrador is getting a celebrity welcome home. Sabi was with a joint Australian-Afghan army patrol ambushed in restive Uruzgan province in September 2008, triggering a gunfight that wounded nine troops and earned one Australian soldier the country’s highest bravery medal. But there was no sign of Sabi after the battle, and months of searching failed to find any sign of the retriever – until now.

Defense officials said Thursday that a U.S. soldier recovered Sabi at an isolated patrol base elsewhere in Uruzgan. Further details about the base were not given. The dog was returned to the Australians’ base in the province just in time for a visit by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who was photographed Wednesday along with the U.S. commander in Afghanistan Gen. Stanley McChrystal petting Sabi.

Sabi is back home in one piece and is a genuinely nice pooch as well,” Rudd told reporters.