Table Of ContentOperation Barras
Sierra Leone
10 September 2000
Graphic of Assault
A hostage drama amongst the jungles of Sierra Leone was
successfully resolved on the morning of September 10, 2000 as a
force of 150 British paratroopers, allegedly aided by SAS operators,
assaulted the West Side Boys’ camp where eleven British and one
Sierra Leonean hostages were being held.
On August 25, 2000, eleven soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment,
along with their military liaison from Sierra Leone were taken hostage
by a “renegade militia,” known as the West Side Boys who are said to
be perpetually drunk and drugged. The soldiers were in Sierra Leone
as part of a 200-strong force training the government army in the
country. Initially, 1,000 British troops were sent to Sierra Leone to help
with evacuation of foreign nationals, and then went on to provide
logistical support to the UN operation, and training for government
forces. In May, the troops secured the capital, Freetown, and the
airport, and were reported to have been involved in clashes with the
Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Additionally, the British troops
assisted in capturing a rebel leader, Foday Sankoh.
The eleven soldiers were traveling in three Land Rovers on a main
road in the direction of Freetown, returning from a meeting with
Jordanian UN forces, when they were captured by the West Side Boys,
British sources said. On the other hand, the commander of UN forces
disputed the British account of the kidnapping, and said the soldiers
were in an area where they should not have been traveling. Moreover,
according to General Garba, the Nigerian UN commander, the British
had failed to inform the UN of their activities, and claims they were
captured while deep inside the jungle. Additionally, he says the
soldiers had never met the Jordanian forces.
British forces in the country launched an immediate search operation,
but helicopter overflights proved useless, and failed to locate the
missing patrol. At this time, reports surfaced that a 12-man Special Air
Service (SAS) team was sent to the country to attempt a rescue,
something that was denied by the British defence ministry. That same
day, August 27, the West Side Boys demanded the release of their
leader, General Papa from prison, along with food and medicine, in
exchange for the British troops. Two days later, on August 29, one of
the captured soldiers was allowed to meet with a hostage negotiating
team, and assured them that the soldiers were being treated well, and
that no one was injured. Around this time, the British government
admitted that the captured patrol might have been deep inside rebel
territory, rather than on the main highway.
The situation began to look up on Wednesday, August 30, when five of
the eleven British soldiers were released, in exchange for a satellite
phone and medical supplies. The other soldiers would not be released
until the other demands were met. Additionally, Colonel Cambodia, a
spokesman for the West Side Boys demanded a review of the Sierra
Leone peace agreement, the re-integration of the rebel group into the
army, and the release of their jailed leader. Somewhere around this
time, two SAS negotiators were reportedly sent to the area to help
settle a peaceful end.
As negotiations continued, September 5th saw the arrival of “more than
100” elite British paratroopers from the 1st Battalion Parachute
Regiment to Senegal, in preparation for a possible military resolution to
the crisis. According to CNN, 130 paratroopers were sent. British
officials continued to deny the presence of SAS operators in the
country, but CNN reports that 150 soldiers took part in the final assault.
This leaves for twenty unaccounted troops, entertaining the possibility
of SAS troopers taking part in the operation. Defence analyst Colonel
Andrew Duncan believes special forces would have been “key” in the
operation, concentrating on the hostages, while the larger contingent of
paratroopers distracted the West Side Boys. The Independent from
London reported that SAS operators had been on the ground several
days before the assault, conducting reconnaissance among the
swamps of Occra hills where the hostages were held. Supposedly, the
hostages were lined up in front of firing squads for mock executions.
The SAS had learned the help of eavesdropping devices that the West
Side Boys were discussing of moving the hostages to higher hills.
When the order for the rescue operation was given, the SAS operators
moved into their final vantage point to guide in the Paras.
As dawn broke on Sunday, September 11, the order to move came.
The stillness of the morning was shattered at 6:16am by three Chinook
helicopters and two Westland Lynx gunships as they took off from
Freetown airport. Flying at 200 miles per hour, they sped towards
Rokel creek, the site of the rebel camp. At 6:30, the assault began as
the lead Lynx helicopter began strafing the banks of the river. CNN
reports that one Chinook landed near the huts, as soldiers
disembarked from it and immediately shot the guards. This task most
certainly fell to the SAS operators, due to their expertise in hostage
rescue. A firefight seems to have ensued, as the West Siders opened
up on the rescue force with a heavy machine gun, and this is where
the dead paratrooper seems to have been hit. A second force of SAS
operators and Paras, moving in through a valley from the south soon
overwhelmed them, as more of the rescue team took casualties. The
hostages were hustled into the helicopter, and 20 minutes after the
start of the operation were airborne. The hostages were removed to a
waiting ship off the coast of Freetown, the Sir Percival.
At the same time, the two other Chinooks landed at a secondary camp
south of the first position, and the Paras, with the second Lynx gunship
providing cover, engaged in a vicious firefight with the West Siders.
Fighting on this side of the creek took up to an hour and a half, the
British forces supposedly having to use mortars. The last of the rescue
force were airlifted around 16:00, after a mopping-up operation, which
saw the capture of the West Side Boys’ leader, Foday Kallay. The
British forces suffered one death, one serious injury, and eleven “light
injuries”. The West Side Boys lost 25 fighters, along with 18 captured.
Operation Barras, as it is known, involved the co-operation between
the Royal Air Force (RAF), Army and Navy to bring about a successful
end to the hostage crisis. The British force was ready to fly out of
Sierra Leone the day after the rescue operation. The British
government acknowledged that Operation Barras took 10 hours, and
that an investigation was being launched into why the British soldiers
were in an area where they were not supposed to be.
