A daring rescue mission in Sierra Leone yesterday ended with six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer being freed from a heavily armed rebel base.
But one British soldier was killed during the wild jungle attack.
Some 150 Britons, including paratroopers, took part in the raid shortly after dawn.
They freed the hostages from the base of the self-styled “West Side Boys” near the town of Masiaka, 50 miles east of the capital, Freetown.
The West Side Boys, which includes former soldiers who briefly toppled elected President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah in 1997, seized 11 British soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment and an officer of the new Sierra Leone army on Aug. 25.
They later freed five of the soldiers.
British Defense Minister Geoffrey Hoon said the raid followed repeated threats by the group to kill the captives and reports of mock executions.
“During the course of the operation, there was a significant exchange of fire between the U.K. forces and the West Side Boys,” said Charles Guthrie, Britain’s chief of defense staff.
The firefight took place along a creek in swamp, jungle and scrub, he added.
In the past, the group has held hostages on a heavily forested island in the Rokel River in the same area.
The Defense Ministry said 12 British soldiers had been wounded – one seriously, but his life was not in danger.
Officials said 18 captured rebels, including three women, had been handed over to U.N. peacekeepers, who, in turn, handed them over to police in the West African state.
Spencer said those captured included the leader of the renegade group, known as Brig. Gen. Kallay.
“Those captured … will be [prosecuted] according to the laws of Sierra Leone,” Spencer said.
The British hostages were members of a unit training a new Sierra Leone army following a 1999 peace deal to end a civil war that has rumbled on since 1991.
Sierra Leonean military sources said soldiers from the new army took part in yesterday’s operation.
Relatives of the West Side Boys visited their jungle base and persuaded them to free five of the Britons on Aug. 30.