Operation Barras
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Operation Barras was the name of a hostage rescue by the Special Air Service and the Parachute Regiment in Sierra Leone on 10 September 2000.
11 members of The British Army's Royal Irish Regiment and a Sierra Leonean soldier were being held hostage by the West Side Boys, former members of the Sierra Leone Army (SLA) turned rebels, led by Foday Kallay. The soldiers were supposedly coming back from a meeting with a Jordanian commander; however there have been disputes over how and where the British soldiers were captured. Before the operation began Kallay had threatened to kill the hostages on the 9th. He had demanded that he be allowed to take power. It was then that British Prime Minister Tony Blair authorized the mission.
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[edit] Allied Units Involved
- 130 paratroopers from the 1st Battalion Parachute Regiment
- 70 members of the SAS and SBS
- Royal Irish Regiment
- RFA Sir Percivale
- HMS Argyll
- HMS Argyll's Lynx helicopter
- Three CH-47 Chinook helicopters providing transport
- Three Westland Lynx helicopters providing armed escort and close air support
- One Mi-24 Hind gunship as air support, flown by a South African national contracted to do so.
- 3 Members Tactical Communications Wing, Royal Air Force
[edit] Hostages
- Major Martial
- Captain Flaherty
- CSM Head
- Sergeant Smith
- Corporal Mousa
- Corporal Sampson
- Corporal Ryan
- Corporal Mackenzie
- Ranger Guant
- Ranger McVeigh
- Ranger Rowell
- Ranger MaGuire
[edit] Results
- 25 rebels confirmed killed although far more are thought to have died
- 18 rebels captured including Foday Kallay
- 1 British SAS soldier killed in action - Brad Tinnion
- 12 British soldiers wounded (1 severely, 11 minor)
- 2 Conspicuous Gallantry Crosses were awarded to non-disclosed members of the SBS and SAS
[edit] Accounts
- William Fowler. (2005). Operation Barras: The SAS Rescue Mission, Sierra Leone 2000, Cassell military. ISBN 0-304-36699-4 : a semi-fictionalised narrative history of the operation
- Damien Lewis. (2004) Operation Certain Death: the Inside Story of the SAS's Greatest Battle, Century, ISBN 1-84413394-X : another account about the operation
- the fictional novel Barracuda 945, by Patrick Robinson, also quotes the operation.
