All to know about SAS Operation Barras in Sierra Leone

One of the missions was Operation Barras in Sierra Leone.

The daring 2000 operation freed British soldiers held hostage in Sierra Leone.

Here is all you need to know.

Background and hostage crisis

On 25 August 2000, an 11-man patrol from the 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, was ambushed and captured during a UN peacekeeping patrol in Sierra Leone.

The patrol was led by Major Alan Marshall. The West Side Boys militia initially held all 11 soldiers and their Sierra Leone Army liaison officer, Musa Bangura.

Five Irish troops were later released, leaving six British soldiers and Bangura in captivity. As negotiations stalled and the rebels’ demands became increasingly unrealistic, the UK government planned a military rescue.

Operation Barras

The rescue mission was codenamed Operation Barras. It involved simultaneous assaults on two West Side Boys strongholds: Gberi Bana, where the hostages were held, and Magbeni, a larger rebel camp on the opposite bank of Rokel Creek.

The objectives were to free the hostages, suppress the rebel forces, capture or kill gang leader Foday Kallay, and recover or destroy captured WMIK Land Rovers.

Covert reconnaissance, including SAS patrols inserted earlier, helped map the camps and identify the hostage locations and helicopter insertion points.

Gberi Bana and Magbeni

At dawn on 10 September 2000, the assault force launched from Freetown in three RAF Chinooks, supported by Army Air Corps Lynx gunships and a locally crewed Mi-24 Hind.

Around 70 operators from D Squadron, 22 SAS, and the Special Boat Service fast-roped into Gberi Bana. A company of 1st Battalion, The Parachute Regiment, assaulted Magbeni to neutralise the larger rebel force and prevent reinforcements.

The mission was considered so dangerous that those involved called it “Operation Certain Death” before the assault.

The rescue

At Gberi Bana, SAS and SBS teams engaged West Side Boys fighters in close-quarter firefights before reaching the building where the hostages were held.

The six British soldiers and Musa Bangura were found alive and moved to a secure extraction point under covering fire.

At Magbeni, 1 PARA overran the rebel camp, destroying weapons, vehicles and supplies. Remaining rebels fled into the bush.

Casualties and outcome

All six British hostages and their Sierra Leone Army liaison officer were freed. Around 20 civilian captives, held as slaves by the West Side Boys, were also rescued.

One SAS trooper, Lance Bombardier Bradley Tinnion, was fatally wounded and was the only British fatality. A further 12 British soldiers were wounded, including one seriously.

At least 25 West Side Boys fighters were killed and 18 captured, including Foday Kallay.

Significance

Operation Barras helped break the West Side Boys as a coherent threat and demonstrated British military capability in Sierra Leone.

It was the UK’s first major hostage-rescue operation since the 1980 Iranian Embassy siege. The mission is now studied as an example of joint special-forces and conventional infantry action supported by intelligence and political authorisation.