World News 11-09-2000 SAS Free British Hostages In Jungle Rescue who: British troops what: Rescue hostages from West Side Boys jungle camp where: Sierra Leone when: Yesterday snippet: "British paratroopers and special forces yesterday staged an extraordinary jungle operation to rescue the six soldiers being held by the West Side Boys militia group in Sierra Leone," reports The Independent this morning. Tony Blair, who gave his personal authorisation for the rescue on Saturday, led the tributes to the British paratrooper who gave his life in Operation Barras, the mission which brought to end the 17 day hostage crisis by freeing six Royal Irish Regiment soldiers captured on August 24th. "This was an operation carried out in circumstances of immense danger in the face of armed resistance," said Mr Blair. "I cannot pay high enough tribute to the skill, the professionalism and the courage of the armed forces involved. Inevitably, in such an operation as this, there are casualties." "Three Chinook and one Lynx helicopter left [the capital city] Freetown at 6.16am," reports The Telegraph, "and mounted a simultaneous two-pronged attack after reaching militia positions 15 minutes later." "Men from the Parachute Regiment`s 1st Battalion silently surrounded the camp, which straddles two villages on opposite sides of the 300-yard Rokel Creek amid dense mangrove swamps," reports The Sun`s Neil Syson. The final, brief jungle firefight resulted in the deaths of 25 rebels and one British soldier. Twelve other British soldiers were wounded, one seriously. The hostages were safely on board a Royal Navy ship moored off Freetown by 7am. Critics believe that the success of the mission "throws up more questions than it answers," notes The Guardian`s report, "wider questions about the precise nature of the British troops in Sierra Leone and, more specifically, exactly what the captured troops were doing in a rebel-held area." [... more]

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