Operation Barras

Significance

Operation Barras was conducted to recover six soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and a Sierra Leone Army liaison officer seized by the West Side Boys militia on 25 August 2000. The patrol had been taken prisoner after turning off the main road near Magbeni and was held at Gberi Bana across Rokel Creek. The operation occurred during the late stages of the Sierra Leone Civil War, when British forces were engaged in supporting the UN Mission in Sierra Leone. The seizure of uniformed British soldiers by a domestic militia group created a direct challenge to British military presence in the country, and the recovery mission demonstrated the reach and resolve of that presence at a critical point in the conflict's final phase.

Commanders (1)