Intelligence

Sarah Bryant was on secret mission in Afghanistan

Sarah Bryant was on secret mission in Afghanistan - Times Online

Michael Smith and Jerome Starkey in Kabul

The woman soldier killed in a bomb attack last week was an intelligence officer on a secret mission to meet an Afghan agent, a military source has revealed.

Corporal Sarah Bryant, of the Intelligence Corps, was meeting the agent for the second time deep inside Taliban territory on the border between Helmand and Kandahar provinces. “The agent had produced very good intelligence the first time around,” the source said.

She was accompanied by a four-man SAS close protection team, three of whom were also killed by the blast.

It was not clear whether the agent had been planted by the Taliban or had been unmasked and forced to reveal details of the meeting, the source said. “But it’s clear that the whole thing was compromised. There is no doubt this was an ambush.”

The team was alone on a remote desert track in an area British troops would
not normally patrol. They were in a lightly armoured snatch Land Rover
because it was less obtrusive than a heavily armoured vehicle but it offered
no protection against the 100lb bomb.

The Taliban confirmed they had planted the bomb on the track and were waiting
for Bryant and her close protection team as they approached.

Zabihullah Mujahed, the Taliban spokesman, said the bomb had been detonated by
remote control by an observer waiting for the Land Rover to pass by.

Bryant, 26, from Cotehill, Cumbria, and two of the SAS team died immediately.
One of the other two SAS soldiers managed to call in a medical emergency
response team. The commander survived but his colleague died shortly after
arriving at the British military hospital at Camp Bastion.

In official statements last week the MoD attempted to conceal Bryant’s role,
claiming that she and the SAS soldiers, from 23 SAS Regiment, were
“mentoring” Afghan police officers.

However, General Mohammed Hussein Andiwal, the Afghan police chief in the
region, denied they were working with his men. “There weren’t any police
there,” he said. “Otherwise I would know.”

The three dead SAS reservists have been named as Corporal Sean Reeve, 28, from
Staines, Surrey; Lance-Corporal Richard Larkin, 39, from Evesham,
Worcestershire; and Paul Stout, 31. They will be flown home tomorrow.

British special forces operations in Afghanistan are normally carried out by
the Special Boat Service but it is conducting cross-border operations into
Pakistan.

Bryant’s father, Des Feely, 55, said that his daughter was so good that MI6
had attempted to poach her but she had opted to stay in the army.

June 21, 2008 at 05:52 PM in Middle East, SAS, Terror groups | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners

SAS raiders enter Iran to kill gunrunners - Times Online

Michael Smith BRITISH special forces have crossed into Iran several times in recent months as part of a secret border war against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s Al-Quds special forces, defence sources have disclosed.

There have been at least half a dozen intense firefights between the SAS and
arms smugglers, a mixture of Iranians and Shi’ite militiamen.

The unreported fighting straddles the border between Iran and Iraq and has
also involved the Iranian military firing mortars into Iraq. UK commanders
are concerned that Iran is using a militia ceasefire to step up arms
supplies in preparation for an offensive against their base at Basra airport.

An SAS squadron is carrying out operations along the Iranian border in Maysan
and Basra provinces with other special forces, the Australian SAS and
American special-operations troops.

They are patrolling the border, ambushing arms smugglers bringing in
surface-to-air missiles and components for roadside bombs. “Last month, they
were involved in six significant contacts, which killed 17 smugglers and
recovered weapons, explosives and missiles,” a source said. It was not clear
if any of the dead were Iranian.

Last week, Bob Ainsworth, the armed forces minister, said the Ministry of
Defence was unable to say whether British troops had killed or captured any
Iranians in Iraq. The ministry declined to comment, but privately officials
insisted British troops never carry out hot pursuit across the border.

There have been persistent reports of American special-operations missions
inside Iran preparing for a possible attack. But the sources said British troops
were solely stopping arms smuggling.

The fighting comes amid an increase in US and British intelligence operations
against Iran. Britain’s forces have more than 70 Farsi experts monitoring
Iranian communications, and the intelligence is shared with the United
States.

Seven American U2 spy planes have passed through RAF Fairford in
Gloucestershire this year on their way to Akrotiri in Cyprus or Al-Dhafra in
Abu Dhabi, the bases for flights over Iran.

The Al-Quds force has been increasing its arms supplies to both the Shi’ite
militias in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan. Officially, Britain has
been careful not to blame the Iranian government.

But senior British officials have confirmed to The Sunday Times that it would
not happen without the backing of the Iranian leadership.

They pointed out that Gen Qassem Suleimani, the head of the Al-Quds force, has
direct access to Ayatollah Khamenei, supreme leader of Iran

Liam Fox, the Conservative defence spokesman, said: “Increasingly Iran poses a
direct threat to our armed forces and our wider interests . . . they are
playing a very dangerous game.”

October 20, 2007 at 10:08 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS soldier killed in Iraq helicopter was ‘exemplary leader’

Michael Evans, Defence Editor

The SAS soldier killed in the twin helicopter crash in Iraq was named yesterday as Colour Sergeant Mark Powell.

The death of the 37-year-old soldier was a blow both to the elite regiment in which he served and for operations in Iraq, where his combat-proven experience was viewed as irreplaceable.

Colour Sergeant Powell joined the Parachute Regiment in December 1990 and is understood to have served in the SAS for many years.

The rank of colour sergeant is a prestigious position in any regiment, but a mark of especial status in the SAS.

In a brief but telling eulogy, the Ministry of Defence said that he was “an exemplary combat leader, soldier, father, husband, friend and Briton, dedicated to his family, his men, his mission and his country”.

The MoD said: “In the finest traditions of the Army and his regiment, he was utterly selfless, never shirking danger, effort or hard service in the pursuit of his mission.” His loss was “tragic and keenly felt by all”, but “his example to others will be sure to endure and inspire us all for years to come”.

He died when two RAF Pumas collided in mid-air north of Baghdad.

The RAF loadmaster also killed in the same helicopter has not yet been named because some relatives have not been traced.

Details of Colour Sergeant Powell’s career were in short supply, but defence sources said that he had a wealth of experience and had been deployed on covert missions in many theatres all over the world.

He joined the SAS in his early twenties after serving in the Parachute Regiment before passing the tough selection course for the Hereford-based SAS.

April 22, 2007 at 03:58 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

The Daily Record - NEWS - SAS POISED FOR HOSTAGES RESCUE

 

Elite troops fly out for desert mission

Source: The Daily Record - NEWS - SAS POISED FOR HOSTAGES RESCUE

 

MORE than 60 SAS troops flew to Africa yesterday as part of a mission to save five British hostages.

The crack squad will be on standby to free the hostages by force if negotiations and communications fail.

The tourist group were last seen on Thursday as they travelled through a remote desert area of Ethiopia.

Members of the SAS's Standby Squadron were last night flying to neighbouring Djibouti, where they will line up alongside men from the French Foreign Legion.

The squadron are part of the UK's global counter-terrorism team ready to fly anywhere in the world at an hour's notice.

An SAS captain and staff sergeant were already in Ethiopia assessing the situation with a Scotland Yard hostage negotiator.

Yesterday, diplomats were desperately trying to locate the hostages, who disappeared in searing heat in the Afar desert - a barren expanse of ancient salt mines and volcanoes.

The hostages, who are British embassy workers and their relatives, were sightseeing along with 13 Ethiopian guides near the disputed border with Eritrea.

Whitehall officials have admitted there is "a national security dimension" to the kidnapping.

The government emergency planning committee Cobra met last week to draw up a strategy.

But harsh terrain, poor communications and political squabbling between Ethiopia and Eritrea are complicating the rescue plan.

The SAS troops are prepared for long-range desert operations.

Two Chinook helicopters from RAF 7 Squadron have been dispatched to the area, loaded with Land Rovers, motorbikes and weapons designed for desert warfare.

The state-run Ethiopian News Agency reported yesterday that five of the Ethiopians with the tour group had been found safe.

It was not clear whether they had escaped or were released.

The Eritrean government denied claims that their troops had snatched the party and marched them across the border to a military camp.

Ismael Ali Sero, head of the Afar region in the north of Ethiopia, claimed about 25 Eritreans in military uniform had grabbed the tourists and guides, stealing money, mobile and satellite phones.

He said the cars used by the group were set on fire at the camp.

Yemane Gebremeskel, the director of Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki's office, said the claim was "crazy". He added: "No one is involved in any business of kidnapping."

Berharnu Kebede, Ethiopian ambassador to the UK, said: "We are not in the business of finger-pointing at any group or individual or any country.

"For us, the priority is to secure the safe return of these people."

Foreign Office minister Geoff Hoon said yesterday his department was "working as hard as we possibly can".

He said: "It is a matter of grave importance as it would be with any British tourist.

"But obviously staff in the Foreign Office feel particularly strongly because it is their people, their families, and a great deal of effort is being made to secure their freedom."

Adventure tourists are drawn to the moon-like landscape of Afar. But bandits are rife and travellers have to take armed guards

March 4, 2007 at 11:29 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS hunts fleeing Al-Qaeda Africans

SAS hunts fleeing Al-Qaeda Africans - Sunday Times - Times Online

Hala Jaber in Nairobi and Michael Smith
AN SAS team is hunting down Al-Qaeda terror suspects as they try to flee war-torn Somalia after the crushing defeat of the country’s Islamist forces last week.

The suspects are trapped between invading Ethiopian troops — assisted by US special forces and American mercenaries — and the Kenyan army and SAS troops who are acting as “training advisers” but have been leading operations along the border, providing a “screen” to trap terrorists.

Somalia’s interim government yesterday claimed the last stronghold of the Islamic movement had been captured with the fall of Ras Kamboni, a coastal area less than two miles from the Kenyan border.

Eleven suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists were said to have been arrested last week but three key suspects, believed to be responsible for the bombing of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998 and an attack on an Israeli-owned hotel in Mombasa, were still on the run yesterday.

The dramatic victory by Ethiopian troops was the culmination of months of preparation inside and outside Somalia by American and British special forces, and US-hired mercenaries.

The “professional assistance” was recruited by officials based in the US embassy in Nairobi at the end of 2005 as part of a deniable operation, sources claimed.

“The brief was to enter Somali territory with the objective of studying the terrain, mapping and analysing landing sites and regrouping areas, and reporting on suitable ‘entry and exit points’,” one source said.

According to a CIA source, American intelligence and military have been bankrolling the Ethiopians since the start of last year, as well as providing them with satellite surveillance, technical, military and logistical support.

“They not only gave them money and technical support but even spare parts where needed,” the source said.

Although it was a goal of US policy to overthrow the Union of Islamic Courts which had taken power in most of Somalia, “all the investment in the Ethiopians was ultimately to get to the three suspects,” said the source.

“No army in Africa was capable of doing this on its own, and it was unlikely that these Al-Qaeda bad guys were just going to go away, so the United States decided to do something about it. The goal was limited to liquidating these targets. It was certainly not to re-establish ourselves in Somalia, nor to open up a new front.”

Last week America showed its hand when it unleashed an airstrike from an AC-130 gunship on a Somali village where intelligence suggested the three key suspects, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, 32, Saleh ali Saleh Nabhan, 38, and Abu Taha al-Sudani, were holed up.

The airstrike missed the men but, according to a senior American official, the attack killed eight to 10 “significant Al-Qaeda affiliates”. A small team of US special operations troops has remained at the scene collecting evidence to identify the victims.

Monday’s strike was the first overt American military action in Somalia since US forces withdrew from the Horn of Africa after 18 servicemen were killed by Somali militiamen in the notorious “Black Hawk Down” incident in 1993.

Last week US congressmen were briefed by General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, that the Somali attack was executed under the Pentagon’s authority to hunt and kill terror suspects around the world, a power bestowed by the White House after 9/11.

Kenyan counter-terrorism police said the wives and three children of two of the Al-Qaeda main suspects, Mohammed and Nabhan, were caught as they attempted to cross into Kenya. The women were reportedly flown to Nairobi for questioning.

Despite the swift victory, there were fears that American intervention would spark a new insurgency. Gunfire could be heard in Mogadishu yesterday as militias struggled for control.

There were reports of murder, rape and armed robbery, and roadblocks have been re-established on many routes into the city by militias extorting money.

A senior western diplomat said already warlords and extremists were regrouping and rearming, though the price of weapons has risen by nearly 200% in the past few weeks.

“Unless the international community intervenes quickly it could slip back into the anarchy of the 1990s,” he warned.

Additional reporting: Richard Lough

January 13, 2007 at 10:48 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Mission 38 - Overview: Operation Barras

Operation Barras

Occra Hills, Sierra Leone�September 10, 2000: The fate of six soldiers abducted in West Africa lies in a perilous rescue attempt by British troops.

The light is faint and the coast is quiet when the choppers sweep in. At 6:00 in the morning, there is a leap of faith that the roar from three CH-47s won�t wake the sleeping rebels. If it does, the hostages will die.

Six members of the Royal Irish Regiment are held captive by one of Sierra Leone�s most fearless and violent rebel groups, the West Side Boys. The hour is early and the kidnappers lay sleeping, unaware of the intrepid assault that is unfolding around them.

The Chinooks rapidly lower 150 British paratroopers. In succession, the soldiers descend chest-deep into the swamp. They wade through 500 meters of thick, murky water to the dry land south of Magbeni, Sierra Leone. It is the jungle, rampant with fierce animals like bush pigs and wild chimps. And it is rampant with military guerrillas.

From the surrounding swamps emerge Special Air Service snipers. Patient, silent, undetected: snipers have observed the hostages for nearly a week from the mire. At last, they mobilize with stealth, wading slowly to the jungle�s edge, where they lead the troops through 150 meters of dense foliage to the edge of the village. But stealth is no guarantee: As they approach, enemy bullets sear through the tangle of flora surrounding them.

Simultaneously, 24 Special Air Service agents and more paratroopers descend swiftly down ropes, infiltrating the enemy retreat across the river. They silently approach the crude huts marking the village of Geri Bana, where the lives of six members of the Royal Irish Regiment have hung in the balance for 16 agonizing days.

Barely visible in the faint morning light, the rebels are slumbering in their hammocks when the SAS unleash a rude awakening: a sudden barrage of fire from M16 rifles and machine guns, and an explosion of flash bang grenades. Deaf and blinded, the enemy is weakened for five precious seconds.

And an astounding rescue begins.
Release Date: February 28, 2005

January 5, 2007 at 09:04 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

International Elite Forces

The Really Big List of International Elite Forces - Military Photos

international elite units

ALBANIA:
Commando Brigade
Naval Commandos
Reparti Eleminimit dhe Neutralizimit te Elementit te Armatosur (RENEA/88) (CT)
Reparti I Operacioneve Speciale (ROS) (CT)

ARGENTINA:
MILITARY UNITS:
Compania de Comandos 601 (Ca Cdo(s) 601/CC601) - The Army’s SF/Commando unit. Trained in parachuting, mountain warfare, SCUBA and amphibious ops.
Agrupación de Comandos Anfibios (APCA) - Infanteria de Marina (Argentine Marine Corps) special ops/recon unit.
Agrupacion de Buzos Tacticos (APBT) - Argentine Navy combat diver unit.
Escuadron de Apoyo Comando (EAC) - The Fuerza Aérea (Argentine AF) special ops unit. Conducts LRRP, CSAR, and anti-hijack operations. All the units members are qualified HALO parachutists.

GENDARMERIA NACIONAL UNITS:
Sección de Fuerzas Especiales de Gendarmería National - The Gendarmería’s parachute trained national CT unit.
Grupo Especial Alacran/Escuadron Alacran “Scorpions” - (Gendarmeria’s SF unit)
Sección Operaciones Especiales de Monte de Gendarmería National “Groupe Monte” - (Jungle Special Operations Section) - The Gendarmería’s parachute and SCUBA trained jungle unit.
Unidad Especial de Lucha Contra Narcotraficante (UELCON - Special Unit for the Struggle Against Narcotics Trafficers) – The Gendarmería’s elite parachute trained counter narcotics unit.
Equipo Antiterrorista (Antiterrorist Team) - Gendarmerie unit is located in Evita City. Responds to barricade situations throughout Argentina, but primarily operates in rural areas. They also provide limited dignitary protection for government officials traveling in these areas.

POLICE UNITS:
Brigada Especial Operativa Halcon (BEOH)/Grupo Halcon (Falcon Special Operations Brigade/Falcon Group) - “Brigada Halcon” - Buenos Aires Police national CT/SWAT unit.
Grupo Especial de Operaciones Federales (GEOF) - Guardia de Infantería de la Policía Federal national CT unit
Departamental de Seguridad de la Provincia de Buenos Aires.
Tropa de Operaciones Especiales (TOE) - Policía Provincial de Santa Fé SWAT Team.
Escuadrón Táctico Especial Recomendado (ETER) - Policía Provincial de Córdoba SWAT Team.
Grupo Albatros - Prefectura Naval - Maritime CT unit.
Grupo de Respuesta Inmediata de Alto Riesgo (GRIAR) - Immediate High Risk Response Group) - The Guardacostas (Coast Guard) SWAT/CT/anti-hijack unit - Located in Buenos Aires, conducts river and maritime operations in the lakes and rivers and anything close to the coast line. Specialized boarding, rescue, diving and maritime counter-terrorism unit.

FEDERAL PRISON SERVICE UNITS:
Grupo Especial Operaciones Penitenciarias (GEOP) - Servicio Penitenciario Federal (SPF) national SWAT team.
Grupo Especial de Intervención (GEI) - Servicio Penitenciario Federal SWAT Team.
Grupo de Acción Rápida (GAR) - SWAT Team. Only operates in the Complejo Uno Prison from Ezeiza. Servicio Penitenciario Federal.
Grupo de Elite de Traslados - Escorts dangerous criminals from prison to courtroom, or to another prison. Servicio Penitenciario Federal.

AUSTRIA:
Jagdkommando (Rangers)
Gebirgsjaegerbattalions (Mountain Warfare units)
Gendarmerie Einsatz Kommando (GEK - "COBRA" - CT)

AUSTRALIA:
Special Operations Command (SOCOMD)
Special Air Service Regiment (SASR)
-Base Squadron
-HQ
-Anti Terrorism Cell
-Training and Operational Support Squadron
-Instruction Wing
-Wings : Medical, Transport, Material, Supply
1, 2, 3 “Sabre” Squadrons
“A Troop” - HALO Troop
“B Troop” - Boat Troop
“C Troop” - Mobility Troop
Counter Terrorism and Special Recovery (CTSR) Teams -TAG (West)
A Squadron 5th Aviation Regiment
152 Signal Squadron
4th Battalion (Commando) Royal Australian Regiment (RAR) (4RAR Cdo)
-A (Reserve), B, C and D Companies
-Tactical Assault Group, East (composed of personnel for 4RAR and RAN personnel)
- Aviation Platoon from “B” Squadron, 5th Aviation Regiment
Special Operations Combat Service Support Company (SOCSSC)
Army Reserve 1st Commando Regiment (1st Cdo Regt)
-HQ Company
-Signal Troop
-Maintenance Troop
-Training Troop
-Base Operation Section
-Base Radio Section
-1 Cdo Coy, 2 Cdo Coy
-126th Signal Squadron
Swan Island Special Warfare Detachment
Incident Response Regiment (IRR)
* Navy Clearance Diving Branch
CDT1, CDT4 and Reserve Diving Teams CDTs

Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) Covert Action Directorate - (Aussie version of the CIA's SAD)

RAAF Airfield Defense Guards (Counter SOF unit)

Regional Force Surveillance Units (RFSU):
-51 Far North Queensland Regiment (51 FNQR)
-Pilbara Regiment (Pilbara Reg.)
-North West Mobile Force (NORFORCE)
3RAR (Para)
- Recon Platoon

BAHRAIN:
U-Group

BANGLADESH:
1st Para-Commando Battalion

BELARUS:
5th Spetsnaz brigade
Almaz

BELGIUM:
Para-Commando Brigade
-1Para Battalion
-2Cdo Battalion
-3Para Battalion
-Special Forces group
-Eskadron Der Gidsen (recce)

Escadron Special d'Intervention(french)/Speciaal Interventie Eskadron (dutch)
+ several smaller POSA (CT) units off mayor cities.

BOLIVIA:
Special Forces Training Centre
Balattion de Infanteria de Marina “Almirante Gran”

BRAZIL:
Força de Ação Rápida-FAR
Brigada de Infantaria Pára-quedista (Parachute Infantry Brigade)
Companhia de Precursorers Para-Quedista (CIA PREC - Parachute Pathfinder Company)
12ª Brigada de Infantaria Leve (Aeromovel)(12th Light Infantry Brigade-Airmobile)

Brigada de Operações Especiais (Bda Op Esp)
Base Administrativa (Adminstrative Base)
3ª Companhia de Forças Especiais (Pára-quedista) - sediada em Manaus (3rd Special Forces Co.)
Centro de Instrução de Operações Especiais (Special Operations Instruction Center)
Companhia de Defesa Química, Biológica e Nuclear (Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical Defense Co.)
1º Batalhão de Forças Especiais (Pára-quedista) (1° BFEsp - 1st Special Forces Battalion)
- Counter Terrorism Detachment
Destacamento de Operações Psicológicas (PSYOPS Det.)
1º Batalhão de Ações de Comandos (Pára-quedista) (1st Commando Bn, Airborne)

11o Batalhao de Infantaria de Montanha (11th Mountain INfantry Bn.)

Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais (CFN)-(Naval Rifle Corps-Marines)
-Brigada Anfíbia (BAnf) (Amphibious Brigade)
Comandos Anfibios-COMANFI (Amphibious Commandos)
Grupo Especial de Resgate (GER) - Special Rescue Group

Grupo de Mergulhadores de Combate-GRUMEC (Combat Divers Group)
Grupo Especial de Retomada e Resgate do Mergulhadores de Combate (GERR/MEC - Combat Divers Retake and Rescue Special Group) - GRUMEC’s MCT team

Esquadrão Aeroterrestre de Salvamento “PARA-SAR” - (Parachute Search and Rescue)

BULGARIA:
Mountain warfare Unit

BRUNEI:
Special Combat Squadron

CANADA:
Special Service Force:
* 3rd Btn. Charlie Company (Para), Royal Canadian Regiment
* 3rd Btn. Charlie Company (Para), Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry
* 3rd Btn. Charlie Company (Para), Royal Vingt Deuxieme Regiment
* Airborne Service Commando
Joint Task Force Two (JTF-2/CT)

CHINA (PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA):
15th Airborne Corps
6th Special Warfare Group
8th Special Warfare Group
12th Special Warfare SF Detachment
Naval Infantry Force

Special Police Unit, People's Armed Police

CHILE:
Special Forces Brigade
Escuela de Paracaidistas y Fuerzas Especiales (School of S.F.)
-Special Forces Battalion
-Parachute Battalion

1st , 2nd Comando Regiments

6th Comando Regiment (desert ops)
-Parachute Battalion
Pathfinders

Yungay (Mountain Infantry Unit) Nº 3
Talca (Mountain Infantry Unit) Nº 16
Los Angeles (Mountain Infantry Unit) Nº 17
Guardia Vieja (Mountain Infantry Unit) Nº 18

Cuerpo de Infantería de Marina (Chilean Marine Corps)
Agrupación de Comandos Infantería de Marina Nº 51 (Marines SOF unit)

Comando de Buzos Tacticos de la Armada (Navy SF commandoes)
Grupo de Abordaje y Registro de la Armada de Chile (GARA) (Naval Registry and Boarding Group)
Grupo de Respuesta Inmediata de Directemar (GIR - Immediate Response Group)

Escuadrilla de Paracaidistas de la Frueza Aerea de Chile (FACh) “Bionas Azules” (AF "Blue Beret" Pachute Bn.)

Grupo de Fuerzas Especiales (Air Force SF/Commando unit)
Paracaidistas de Busqueda, Salvamento y Rescate (PARASAR - Air Force SAR unit)
Agrupación Antisecuestros Aéreos de la FACh- (ASA - Air Force anti-hijack unit)

Unidad Anti-Terroristes (UAT) of the National Police Force “Cobra”
Grupo de Operaciones de Policia Especiales (GOPE) of the Carabineros

COLOMBIA:
Fuerza de Despliegue Rápido (FUDRA)
Brigada de Fuerzas Especiales (Special Forces Brigade)
Lanceros (Colombian Army "Rangers")

“Brigada de Fuerzas Especiales de Lucha Contra el Narcotrafico”/ Brigada Contra el Narcotrafico
- Batallón Contra el Narcotráfico N° 1
- Batallones Especiales Anti-Narcóticos (Special Anti-Narcotics Battalions)?

Agrupación de Fuerzas Especiales Antiterroristas Urbanas (AFEUR) (Urban Antiterrorist Special Forces Group)
Companias Contra Guerrillos Urbanos (CCGU - Urban Counter Guerilla Companies)
GAES (Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Groups of the Colombian Army)
Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marine (Naval Infantry Corps)
Grupo Operational Contra Extorsion y Secuestros (GOES) (Counter Extortion and Kidnapping Group)
Unidad Nacional Anti Secuestro y Extorsión (UNASE - National Anti-Extortion and Kidnapping Unit)

Grupo de Comandos Anfibios (GCA - SEAL type unit)
Grupo Anti-Secuestro de Aviones (GASDA - (Aircraft Anti-Hijacking Group) (part of Colombian Air Force)

COSTA RICA:
Unidad de Intervencio Especial (UIE) (CT)

CROATIA:
Specijalna Policija

CUBA:
Comando de Missiones Especiales (CME)
BE PNR

CYPRUS:
Mobile Immediate Action Unit (Police Anti-terror Special Forces)
Greek Cypriot Commandos (LRRP type unit)
Greeh Cypriot OYK (Marine Commandos - SEAL type unit)

CZECH REREPUBLIC:
601. Skupina Specialnich sily (601.SSS - formally - Speciální Brigáda – “Generála Moravce” 6/6th Special Brigade - around 500 members - LRRP type unit) located in Prostejov
Speciální jednotka vojenské policie SOG (Military police SOG - small unit-around 60 members) (CT unit. Similiar to Delta)
102.Průzkumny Prapor (Reconnaissance battalion - around 450 members)
71 Vysadkovy Prapor - (Airborne unit)

Útvar Rychlého Nasazení (URNa - National Police CT unit - around 110 members)

DENMARK:
Jaegerkorpset. (SAS type unit)
Froemanskorpset (Frogman Corps – SEAL type unit)
Patruljekompagni / Hærens Operative Kommando. (A Home Guard LRRP unit)
Patruljekompagniet/Danske Division
Siriuspatruljen (Sirius Patrol)
Politiets Indsats Styrke / Danish Police counter terrorism force.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC:
Comando Especial Antiterrorista (Army CT unit)
Comandos Anfibios (NavyCombat divers tasked with, among other things, counter-narcotics and hostage-rescue operations

ECUADOR:
Brigada de Fuerzas Especiales N.- 9 “Patria”
Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO/ CT)
Puma Unit (Army SF)
Grupo de Intervencion y Rescate (GIR -Intervention and Rescue Group)
Cuerpo de Infanteria de Marine

EGYPT:
Unit 777/`Sa’aga “Thunderbolt Force”
UDT/SEAL-type unit (designation unknown)
`Special Operations Troops' of the Central Security Forces (a branch of the Ministry of the Interior) (VIP protection, SWAT-type etc)
Amphibious Brigade

EL SALVADOR:
Comando de Fuerzas Especiales (CFE)
Grupo de Operaciones Especiales (GOE)
- Patrullas de Reconocimiento de Alcance Largo (PRAL - LRRPs)
-Hacha “Hatchet” (SAS type direct action unit)
Comando Especial Antiterrorista (CEAT - “Special Anti-Terrorist Command”)
Battelion de Infateria de Marina
Compania de Comandos Marina (Marine Commando Company)
Batallon de Paracaidistas ( BAPAC - Parachute Battalion)
Grupo de Respuesta Policial (GRP - Police Response Group)

ESTONIA:
Special Operations Group (SOG)

FIJI:
Army First Meridian Squadron (CI) unit

FINLAND:
Laskuvarjojaakarikoulu (Airborne Ranger school)
Laivaston Erikoistoimintayksikko (Navy Special operation unit)
1.Rannikkojaakarikomppania (1st Marine commando company)
Sissikomppaniat (Ranger/Guerilla warfare companies)
Osasto Karhu “Bear Unit” of the Helsinki Police Department (SWAT/Hostage Rescue)
Frontier Guard readiness teams

FRANCE:
Commandement des Operations Speciales (COS-Special Operations Command)

Brigade des Forces Speciales Terre (BFST-Army Special Fores Brigade)
-1er Regiment Parachutiste d'Infanterie de Marine (1er RPI Ma) (Para-Commandoes - nearest French equivalent to SAS/SF)
Détachement Aviation Légère de l’Armée deTterre (ALAT) des Opérations Spéciales (DAOS - Army Light Aviation Special Operations Det) - 1st Escadrille des Operations Speciales , 2nd Escadrille des Operations Speciales
-13eme Regiment Dragoons de Parachutiste (LRRPs)

Force Maritime des Fusiliers Marins Commandos (FORFUSCO)
* Commando de Penfentenyo
* Commando de Montfort
* Commando Jaubert (Assault - includes the "Escouade de Combat en Milieu Clos/ECMC - former Goupement de Combat en Milieu Clos/GCMC- 17 man maritime CT team)
* Commando Trepel

* Commando d'Action Sous-Marine (CASM) Hubert (French naval combat swimmers)
1st Company
A section - HQ
B section - Maritime Counter-Terrorism (MCT)
C section - Swimmer Deliver Vehicle unit
D section - beach recon/naval commando/HALO/HAHO
E section - Boat support unit
2nd Company -Support, Communications, maintenance

Division des Operations Speciales (DOS) (French Air Force special ops aviation unit)
l'Escadrille des helicopters Speciaux (Special Helicopter Squadron) is controlled by DOS
Commando Parachutiste de l'Air 10 (CPA 10 -CCT, TACP, Airfield Seizure)

Commando Parachutiste de l'Air 20 (CPA 20 - Mesures Actives de Sûreté Aerienne -MASA/Aaviation security)

Groupe de Récupération au Sol (GRS) (Search and Recovery Groups)
Commando Parachutiste de l'Air 30 (RESCO - Frecn Air Force CSAR security unit)
Sauveteur-Plongeur RESCO (French Air Force CSAR Rescue-Divers)

*11eme Brigade Parachutiste (11th Parachute Brigade)
-2e Regiment Etranger Parachutiste (2e REP)
-1er Regiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (1e RCP)
-3e Regiment Parachutiste d’Infanterie de Marine (3e RPIMa)
-8e Regiment Parachutiste d’Infanterie de Marine(8e RPIMa)
-35e Regiment d’Artillerie Parachutiste (35e RAP)
-1e Regiment de Hussards Parachutiste (1e RHP)
-17e Regiment du Genie Parachutiste (17e RGP)
*Section Nautique d’Intervention Offensive (SNIO)
1er Regiment de Transmissions Parachutiste (RTP)
4e Battery, 57th Regiment d’Artillerie (4e Bat/57 RA)
11e Compagnie de Commandement et de Transmissions Parachutiste (11e CCTP)
-Groupement de Commandos Parachutistes (GCP) (Formally CRAP- Commandos de Recherche et d'Action en Profondeur) (LRRP/Pathfinder unit)

Brigade de Renseignement
*2e Regiment de Hussards

27e Brigade d'Infanterie de Montagne (27th Mountain Infantry Brigade)
*URH-27 (Unite' de Recherche Humaine)

9e Brigade Legere Blindee d'Infanterie de Marine (9th Marine Light Infantry Brigade) *even though "Marine" (Navy/Naval) is in it's title, it's actually under control of the Army.
*Detachement d'Intervention Operationelle (DIO)

Foreign Legion (regiments are integrated within different brigades):
* 1er Regiment Etranger
* 2er Regiment d'Infanterie
* 3e Regiment d'Infanterie
* 4e Regiment Etranger
* 1er Regiment Etranger De Cavalerie (1e REC)
* 2er Regiment Etranger de Parachutiste (2er REP) (Also a part of 11e BP):
- 1ere CIE (Co) - specialists on night combat, anti-armor and at combat in built up areas.
- 2eme CIE - specialists at mountain warfare.
- 3eme CIE - specialists at amphibious warfare.
- 4eme CIE - specialists at demolition/sabotage, sniping.
- 5eme CIE - Maintenance of equipment
- CEA - Maintenance and recon company, (GCP- Groupment de Commandos Parachutiste, two platoons of MILAN anti-tank missiles, one anti-aircraft artillery platoon, and a mechanized reconnaissance platoon.)
* 5e Regiment Mixte du Pacifique
* Detachment Legion Etranger de Mayotte
* 13 Demi-Brigade Legion Etrangere
*1er Regiment Etranger de Genie (REG)
- DINOPS (Detachment d'Intervention Nautique Operations de Profondeur Subaquatique) (parachute and combat diver trained engineers)
* 2e REG

Groupe Plongeurs-Demineurs (GPD -French Navy EOD)

Groupement de Sécurité et d'Intervention Gendarmerie Nationale (GSIGN)
*Groupe de Sécurité de la Présidence de la République (GSPR)
*Groupe d'Intervention Gendarmerie Nationale (GIGN- counter-terrorism)
-Equipe d'Infiltration et de Reconnaissance (EIR- Recconnaissance and Infiltration Team)
*Escadron Parachutiste d'Intervention Gendarmerie Nationale (EPIGN-counter-terrorism/VIP escort/Special Ops)
- Groupe d'Observation et de Recherche (GOR)

Peloton de Surveillance et D'Intervention de la Gendarmerie (PSIG - Gendarmarie Nationale SWAT units: Montmorency, Cergy, Clermont, Corse(Corsica), Basque Country)
Equipes Légères d'Intervention (ELI - Light Intevention Teams/Riot control unit) ?

Recherche, Assistance, Intervention, et Dissuasion “Black Panthers” (RAID- National Police CT unit)
Groupe d'Intervention Police Nationale (GIPN- National Police SWAT units)

Peloton de Sécurité et de Surveillance Nucléaire (PSSN - Nuclear Security and Surveillance Platoon)

Équipe Régionale d'Intervention et de Sécurité (ERIS)

Groupe Aerien Mixte 56 (GAM56 - DGSE special ops aviation unit)

GERMANY:
Division für Spezielle Operationen (Special Operations Division)
Kommando Spezialkraefte (KSK - The Army's SAS type special ops unit)
Fernspählehrkompanie 200 (Army LRRP unit)
Fallschirmjaeger (Parachutists)

Gebirgsjaeger (Mountain Warfare troops)

SEKM Battalion (Spezialisierte Einsatzkräfte Marine - Navy Special Forces).
-Kampfschwimmer Kompanie (KS - Combat Diver)
- Minentaucherkompanie (MiTaKp - Mine Clearance Company)
-Marinesicherungstruppe (Naval Infantry Unit)
-----1st Company (Kampfschwimmer support/ NEO etc etc)
-----2nd Company (Naval Boarding Operations)
-Medical/ Logistics unit.

Grenzschutzgruppe 9 [GSG 9, Counter-Terrorists]
Spezialeinsatzkommando (SEK - German State Police SWAT units)
ZentralUnterstutzungseinheit Zoll (ZUZ - Customs Central Operation Support Group)

GREECE:
Eidiko Tmima Alexiptotiston (ETA “Special Parachute Unit - Greek Army LRRP/SAS type unit)

1st Sintagma Katadromon (1st Commando Regiment)
- B, D, E Commando Squadrons
2nd Sintagma Alexiptotiston (2nd Parahute Regiment)
-1st Parachute Squadron
-2nd parachute Squadron
13th Sintagma Amfivion Katadromon (13th Amphibious Commando Regiment)
- A,C Amphibious Commando Squadrons
32nd Taxiarhia Bezonafton (32nd Marine Brigade)

Monada Ypovrixion Kastrofon (MYK - “Underwater Destruction Unit”) now DYK
Dimoria Eidikon Apostolon (DEA - Special Mission Platoon) of the Athens City Police (CT)

Eidikes Katastaltikes Antitromokratikes Monades (EKAM - Police CT unit)

Special Operations Squadron “Achiles” - AF CSAR unit.

Coast Guard Underwater Operations Unit (MYA)
Klimakio Idikon Apostolon (KEA - Special Missions Detechments)

GUATEMALA:
Agrupacion Kaibil
Agrupacion Tactica de Seguridad (ATS)
Infanteria de Marina

HONDURAS:
2nd Airborne Infantry Battalion
Special Forces Battalion
Commando de Operaciones (COE) of the Honduras Army SF Command (CT)

HONG KONG:
Police Special Duties Unit (SDU) of the Hong Kong Police

HUNGARY:
1st Mixed Cavalry Regiment (Air Assault, Light Infantry, Mechanized, Peackeeping, Force Protection, etc)

24th "Bornemissza" Battalion
34th "Laszo Bercsényi" Battalion

ICELAND:
Viking Squad - SWAT unit

INDIA:
Para Commando Battalions (1st, 9th, 10th, 21st Special Forces Battalions)
Marine Commando Force (MCF)
- Quick Reaction Section (QRS- Maritime CT)
National Security Guards "Black Cats"
-Special Action Group (SAG- military personnel assigned to assault squadrons)
-Special Rangers Group (SRG-paramilitary & police personnel who form the perimeter security unit)

Special Frontier Force
Special Services Group of the Special Frontier Force
Special Security Group (Indian Secret Service)
Special Security Bureau (SSB)(2 - battalions)
Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
Special Group III

INDONESIA:
Special Warfare Command
Kommando Pasukan Khusus (KOPASSUS) - Army Special Forces
- Unit 81 (Army Special Forces CT unit)
Komando Pasukan Katak (KOPASKA) (Indonesian Navy - SEAL type unit)
Paskhas (AF Special Ops unit)
Satgas Atbhara (Counter-Terrorist Task Force of the Indonesian Air Force)
Detachment Bravo (AF CT unit)
Jala Menkara (Indonesian Marine Corps)
Taifib (Marine Corps amphibious recon unit)
Jala Mangkala (MCT unit drawn from Kopaska and Taifib)
Satgas Gegania (Counter-Terrorist Task Force of the Indonesian National Police)
Resimen Pelopor Brigade Mobil (BRIMOP)
Gegana (SWAT type under police command)
Detachment 88 (Police CT unit)

IRAN:
23rd Special Forces Brigade

IRAQ:
The Iraqi Special Operations Force
-36th Commando Battalion
-The Iraqi Counterterrorism Battalion
Emergency Response Unit (Iraqi National Police SWAT team)
Iraqi Intervention Forces - Anti-Guerilla Unit of Iraqi Army
Mechanized Police Brigade - Iraqi Police's Anti-Guerilla Unit
Special Police Commando Battalions - CT unit under reformed Interior Ministry.

IRELAND, REPUBLIC OF
Irish Army Ranger Wing (ARW)
Garda (police) Emergency Response Unit

ISRAEL:
T'zanhanim (Parachute) Brigade
Golani Brigade
Sayeret Golany (PALSAR 95), based in the Shrga army base.
Sayeret Givaty (PALSAR 8234), based in Mishmar HaNegev army base.
Sayeret NAHAL (PALSAR 374), based in the Beit Lead army base.
Sayeret T'zanhanim (PALSAR 5173), based in the Beit Lead army base.
Unit Rotem (LRRP unit stationed along Israeli/Egyptian border)
Sayaret Mat'kal [attached to General Staff] (counter-terrorism & intelligence)
Sayeret Duvdevan (occupied territories undercover unit)

Unit 5101 (Israeli Air Force special missions unit)
Unit 669 (Israeli Air Force CSAR unit)
Unit 5707 (Israeli Air Force TACP unit)

Sayeret Maglan/Unit 212 (Long range missiles warfare unit - attached to Armor)
Palsar 500 (aka Sayeret Sherion, attached to Armor)
Palsar 7 (aka Sayeret Sherion, attached to Armor)
Sayeret Egoz/Unit 621 - (Counter geurilla ops, attached to Golani brigade (Infantry)
Sayeret Yael (Combat Engineers SF demo unit)
Sayeret Yechida Lesiluk Pt'zat'zot (YACHSAP - Combat Engineers EOD unit)
Moran (Artillery Corps)
Meitar (Artillery Corps)
Special Command Teams (IDF Operational Command’s LRRP units)
Shayetet 13(Naval Commandoes)
LOTAR Eilat/Unit 7707 (CT unit based in Eilat, Israel)
Force 100 (MP SERT unit)
Unit Alpinistim (Alpine/extreme weather unit)
Unit Oket'z/ Unit 7142 (SF K-9 unit)
Unit Yechidat Modiyin Matara/Unit Nit'zan (Unit 636) (YACHMAM - Target Intelligence Unit )

Field Intelligence Corps:
-Unit T'ZASAM/Unit 869 (Field Intelligence Corps)

-Unit Gideonim/Unit 33 (National Police undercover unit)
-Unit YAMAM (Border Guard’s CT/hostage rescue unit)
-Unit YAMAS (Border Guard’s undercover unit)
-Modiyin T'azpiyot Yerut VeLohama Needed (MATILAN - Intelligence Observations Interception and Mobile - Warfare Unit/ Border Guard’s counter infiltration unit)

ITALY:
Brigata Paracadutisti "Folgore"

(C.O.FO.S. - The joint special operations command)

Nucleo Coordinamento Forze per Operazioni Speciali - Special Operations Forces Coordination Cell
9° Regimmento d’' Assalto Incursori Paracadutisti “Col Moschin”
- 1° Battaglione Incursori (110° Compagnie Incursori, 120° Compagnie Incursori )
- RAFOS (Reparto Addestramento Forze Operazioni Speciali)
* 101° Compagnia Allievi
*Base Operativa Incursori (BAI)

- 4° Reggimento Alpini Paracadutisti- “Ranger” - “Monte Cervino”

185° Reggimento Acquisizione Obiettivi (185° RAO)
- Batteria Comando e Supporto Logistico
- 1° Gruppo Acquisizione Obiettivi - GAO
- (3) Batteria Acqusizione Obiettivi (BAO), "Draghi" (ambiente artico e alpino/ arctic and mountain), "Aquile" (ambiente desertico/desert) e "Diavoli" (ambiente continentale /continental).
- Compagnia LRRP

26° Gruppo Squadroni Cavalleria dell' Aria REOS (Reparto Elicotteri Operazioni Speciali /Special Operations Helicopter Unit - The Army’s special ops avn. unit)

13 (GRACO) - disbanded

Comando Truppe Alpine
-Brigate Alpine “ Tourinese”
-Brigate Alpine “Julia”
-Brigate Alpine “Tridenta”

Reggimento Lagunari “Serenissima” (Army amphibious troops)
- Plotone Esploratore Anfibio (Amphibious Exploration/Reconnaissance Platoon)

Forza da Sbarco della Marina Militare (MARIFORSBARC)
Reggimento San Marco (Italian Marines)
- Reparto Comando (Command Unit)
*Nucleo Osservatori Tiro Contra Costa (NOTCC -Forward Observer Cell)
- Battaglione Assalto “Grado” (Assault Battalion “Grado”)
- (3) Compagnia Assalto
- Compagnia Armi (Arms Company)
- Compagnia Operazioni Navali (Naval Operations Company)
- Compagnia Operazioni Speciali (COS - Special Operations Company) former Recon/DOA (Demolitori Ostacoli Antisbarco) (obstacle clearance divers)

15° Stormo
-82nd Centro SAR
-83rd Centro SAR
-84th Centro SAR

Reparto Incursori dell’ Aeronautica Militare (RIAM - formally Squadre Supporto Operazioni Speciali - SSOS (Special Operations Support Squadron - Italian Air Force’s CSAR, LRRP, TACP specialists - equivalent of USAF Special Tactics Teams) “Aerosoccorritori”.

*It also includes COM.SU. BIN’s GOI incursori .

16° Stormo Fucilieri dell’Aria (new AF air base defense unit)
Battaglione Fucilieri dell'Aria
-1° Compagnia, 2° Compagnia

Raggruppamento Subacquei ed Incursori “Teseo Tesei” (COM.SUB.IN - Italian Navy combat diver/Special Ops unit)
-GOI (Gruppo Operativo Incursori)
-GOS (Gruppo Operativo Subacquei)
-GNS (Gruppo Navale Speciale)

2a Brigata Mobile
- 1° Reggimento Carabinieri Paracadutisti “Tuscania”
Regimental HQ
Command and Support Company
Training Unit
and Battaglione Tuscania, made up of:
1a Compagnia (Amphibious ops)
2a Compagnia (Mountain ops)
3a Compagnia (HALO/HAHO)
- Gruppo d’Intervento Speciale (GIS)
-7° Reggimento Carabinieri "Trentino Alto Adige"
-13° Reggimento Carabinieri "Friuli Venezia Giulia"

Nucleo Operativo Centrale di Sicurezza (NOCS - National Police CT unit)
Gruppo Operativo Speciale (GOS - National Police SWAT unit)

AntiTerrorismo Pronto Impiego (ATPI - Anti-terrorism Quick Intervention) (Guardia di Finanza /Finance Guard SWAT/ riot control unit)

Gruppo Operativo Mobile (GOM) (Operational Mobile Group - Polizia Peniteziaria)

JAPAN:
1st Airborne Brigade
- “Guide Unit” (1st Airborne Bde’s NEO unit)
Western Army Infantry Regiment (GSDF counter SOF unit)
- Ranger Platoon (infantry regiment recon unit)
“S” GSDF CT/Special Ops unit
Special Guard Force - (SGF, MSDF/ Navy special ops unit)
Special Security Team (SST, Japanese Maritime Safety Agency’s -- Coast Guard-- maritime CT unit)
Special Assault Team (SAT, National Police Agency’s CT unit)
Special Investigaton Team (SIT)
Special Boarding Unit (SBU)

JORDAN:
Royal Jordanian Special Operation Command (RJSOC)
Special Forces Brigade
-Special Operations Unit 71 (SOU 71)
-81st Ranger Battalion
-91st Airborne Orientation Battalion
-101st Special Forces Battalion
Royal Jordanian Special Operations Aviation Squadron

-Fixed Wing Element
-Helicopter Element (Puma, UH-1, AH-1 Cobras)
-Special Forces Element
Royal Jordanian Navy Frogman Team
Royal Jordanian Navy Special Boat Unit

KENYA:
General Service Unit (GSU) of the Kenya Police

KUWAIT:
Special Forces Counterterrorist Unit - CT unit under Interior Ministry

10th Commando Battalion - Guards Falayka Island and Kuwait International Airport (in peacetime), and reportedly also has a special boat unit for maritime ops.

Special Forces Unit - revived by Allied forces after end of Desert Storm.

Fast Attack Unit - coastal patrol and maritime interdiction

Combat Swimmer Unit

LATVIA:
Specialo Uzdevumu Vieniba (SUV) (SF- green beret )
Izlukdesanta Bataljons (IDB) “Lynx Battalion” (Airborne/Parachute Reconnaissance Battalion)
VAP (Latvian Secret Service)
-Special Intervention Group (SIG-SF/CT unit)
-Escort Unit (Body Guards)

LEBANON:
Maokataha of the Lebanese Army

Marine Commando Regiment

LITHUANIA:
ARAS (police CT/SWAT unit)
Gelezinis Vilkas “Iron Wolves” (an Airborne Brigade)

MALAYSIA:
Grup Gerak Khas (GGK - Special Service Group)
-21st Commando Regiment
-22nd Commando Regiment
-11th Special Forces Regiment
Pasukan Khas Laut (PASKAL - Special Naval Force)
Pasukan Gerakan Khas (PGK) (Police special ops unit)
Special Operations Force
- Special Action Unit
- VAT 69
PASKAU
- CART (Combat Air Rescue Team)
- CT Team
- ABGD unit

MALTA:
C (Special Duties) Company, 1st Regiment, Armed Forces of Malta
Rapid Deployment Team, Maritime Squadron, 2nd Regiment, AFM
Special Assignment Group, Malta Police Corps
EOD Section, Ammunition & Explosives Company, 3rd Regiment, AFM

MEXICO:

Brigada de Fusileros Paracaidistas
- Precursor de asalto aéreo ( Pathfinder Platoons)

Cuerpo de Fuerzas Especiales
- Grupos Aeromóviles de Fuerzas Specials (GAFE)
*Intervention
*Attack
Escuela de Fuerzas Especiales

Patrullas Operaciones Especiales (POE)
“Agujas Negras” (Black Needles)
“Boinas Verdes” (Green Berets)
Kaibiles(Mexican "Kaibils")

Air Force Special Ops unit (euipped with UH-60)

Fuerzas Anfibias
Infantería de Marina Mexicano (Mexican Marine Corps)
* (2) Fuerza Reacción Anfibia (FRA - Amphibious Rapid Reaction Force)
* (1) Fusileros Paracaidistas de la Armada(naval airborne troops)
* (4) Agrupamientos de Infantería de Marina para la Seguridad de Instalaciones Estratégicas (ASIES - Groups for the Security of Strategic Facilities)
* (2) Grupos Anfibios de Fuerzas Especiales (GANFE)

Grupo Antiterrorista (GAT - Police CT unit)
Grupo Especial de Reaccion e Intervencion (GERI- Special Reaction and Intervention Group).

MOROCCO:
Gruppe Intervention Gendarme Nationale (GIGN - CT)

NETHERLANDS:
11th Luchtmobiele Brigade
Korps Commando Troepen (KCT)
- 104th, 105th, 108th SOC
Koninklijke Nederlandse Corps Mariners (KMARNS) (Royal Netherlands Marine Corps - RNLMC)
Lange Afstand Verkenningscompagnie (LAVERCIE)
- Mountain Leader-Verkenningspeloton (MLVerkPel - Mountian Leaders” Reconnaissance Platoon)
- 7NL Special Boat Squadron (Amfibisch Verkenningspeloton/AmfVerkPel - Amphibian Reconnaissance Platoon)
Bijzondere Bijstands Eenheid (BBE - CT)
Brigade Speciale Beveilingsopdrachten (BSB)
Arrestatie Team (AT - Regional SWAT units)

NEW ZEALAND:
1 New Zealand SAS
Navy Operational Diving Team (ODT)
Armed Offenders Squad (AOS)
New Zealand Police Special Tactics Group (STG)
Specialist Search Group (SSG)
Diplomatic Protection Squad

NORTH KOREA:
Light infantry Guidance Bureau
Reconnaissance Bureau

22x Commando Brigades

NORWAY:
Special Forces,
-Marinejegerkommandoen - Naval special forces unit. Based in Ramsund, N.Norway
-Spesialjeger/FSK - Army special forces and counterterror unit. Based in Rena, E.Norway
-(HV-016 - National Guard special unit. Regionally based)

Other,
-FIST/H (Forsvarets Innsatsstyrke/Hær
-KJK/Kystjegerkommandoen/(Marines)
-FJ/Fallskjermjegertroppen(Airborne Pathfinders unit)

Police:
-Beredskapstroppen, or Delta - Police counterterror unit. AFAIK has detachments in major cities (Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim and Stavanger)

OMAN:
Sultan's Special Force
Combat swimmer unit

PAKISTAN:
Special Services Group (SSG)
- Musa Company (CT)
Naval Special Service Group (SSGN)

PAPA NEW GUINEA:
Special Forces Unit

PERU:
Dirección Nacional Contra el Terrorismo
Division de Fuerzas Especiales (DIFE) del Ejército - (Army Special Forces Division)
Batallón de Comandos “Comandante Espinar” Nº 19
- “Delta Company”
Fuerza de Operaciones Especiales (FOES - SEAL type unit)
-GOE Norte, GOE Centro, GOE Nororiente
-EOD
- Salvage unit
Grupo de Fuerzas Especiales (GRUFE Peruvian AF special ops unit)

Fuerza de Infantería de la Marina de Guerra del Perú (FUINMAR - Peruvian Marine Corps)
*Primera Brigada (Anfibia) (5 Battalions)
- Batallón de Infantería de la Marina “Guarnición de Marina” Nº 1
- Batallón de Infantería de la Marina “Guardia Chalaca” Nº 2
- Batallón de Infantería de Marina “Vencedores de Punta Palpelo” Nº 3
- Compañía de Reconocimiento Anfibio
Agrupamiento de Comandos
- Compañía de Comandos Anfibios (CAM) - “Comando Anfibios”/ CONAF (40 - man unit) (Buzos de Combate)
- Unidad Especial de Combate (UEC - 25 man unit)
LJEC?

PHILIPPINES:
Philippine Army Special Operations Command (PASOCOM)
- Alpha Two Zero (A-20, CT unit similar to "Delta")
- First Scout Ranger Regiment (FSRR/"Scout Rangers" - LRRPs) (3 - battalions)
- Special Forces Regiment (SFR) (7 - battalions)
1st Special Forces (Riverine) Battalion
5th Special Forces Company
-Psychological Operations (Psyops) Group
Light Reaction Company (LRC - CT unit)

710th Special Operations Wing (SPOW - Airbase Defense/ABD, FAC/TACP, EOD, K-9)
-720th Special Operations Group - (Explosive and Ordnance Squadron, & K-9 Squadron)
730th SOG
-740th SOG
-Anti-terrorism team

Philippine Marine (PM) Corps
-Force Reconnaissance Battalion -61st, 62nd, 63rd Force Recon Companies

Special Warfare Group (SWAG - Navy SEALs)

Presidential Security Group (PSG) Special Reaction Unit (SWAT/CAT unit)

Philippine National Police (PNP) Special Action Force (SAF)
PNP SWAT teams
Police Security Protective Office (PNP VIP protection unit)

Aviation Security Group Special Operations Unit (CT/anti-hijack unit)

POLAND:
Grupa Reagowania Operacyjno Mobilnego (GROM)
1 Pułk Specjalny Komandosów (1st Special Commando Regiment)
Grupa Specjalna Płetwonurków MW (FORMOZA - Special Naval Frogman Group)
6 Brygada Desantowo-Szturmowa im. Gen.Sosabowskiego (6th Air Asault Brigade)
1 Lotnicza Grupa Poszukiwawczo-Ratownicza in Bydgoszcz (1st Air Search and Rescue Group - (Polish AF CSAR unit)

Biuro Operacji Antyterrorystycznych (BOA-Antiterrorist Operation Bureu)

Grupa Realizacyjna Biura Dokumentacji Skarbowej - Polish Bureu of Tresury SWAT unit)

V WYdzial Zebezpieczenia Realizacji i Dzialan Antyterrorystycznych Agencji Bezpieczenstwa Wewnetrznego (V Counter-terrorist Activities and Realization's Safety Department of Internal Security Agency)

Wydzial Zabezpieczenia Dzialan Strazy Granicznej (Activities Safety Department of Polish Border Guard - main special unit of Polish Border Guard)

PORTUGAL:
Comando das Tropas Aerotransportadas (Airborne Troops Command)
- Brigada Aerotransportada Independente (BAI) (Independent Airborne Brigade)
Companhia de Precursores (Cprecs-Pathfinders)
- Saltadores de Operacionais de Grande Altitude - SOGA (The Pathfinder Company HALO/HAHO teams)
Centro de Instrução de Operações Especiais (CIOE) (Special Operations Instruction Center)
Batalhão de Elementos de Operações Especiais (BEOE)
-Comandos “Rangers”
-Patrulhas de Longo Raio de Accao (PLRA - LRRPs)

Equipa de Resgate de Combate (RESCOM - AF CSAR Teams)

Corpo de Fuzileiros (Rifle Corps -Marines)
Destacamento do Accoes Especiais (DAE)-(Marine Commandos/SBS type unit)

Destacamento de Merghuladores Sapadores (Portuguese navy diver/SAR det.)

Grupo De Operacoes Especiais (GOE -National PoliceCT unit)

Guarda Nacional Republicana Pelotão des Operaçoes Especiais (Republican National Guard Special Operations Platoon)

Grupo de Intervençao e Segurança Prisional (Prison Intervention and Security Group)

ROMANIA:
404 Recon Battalion
2nd Airborne Brigade
- Pathfinders
2nd Mountain Infantry Brigade

39 Combat Divers Center

1 Naval Infantry Battalion

Brigada Antiterorista (BAT) (CT unit of the Serviciol Roman de Formatii, SRF - Romanian Intelligence Service)

Antiterror Special Bn. of the Gendarmerie.
SIAS - (Police SWAT unit)

RUSSIA:
Ministry of Justice Spetsnaz
"Krechet"

Naval Infantry

103th, 104th, 105th Airborne Guards Divisions (VDV)
Independent Battalions
Independent Assault Brigades

GRU Spetsnaz:
* `Razvedchiki': 1 batt/division divided into 2 Coys (one for LRRP, one for airborne operations)
* `Rejdoviki': brigade sized: operate in bn. & co sized units in an independent recon role
* `Vysotniki': brigade sized: operate in 11man units and are the closest to US SF/UK SAS

16a Brigada Voyska Spetsial'novo Naznatcheniya
218 Battal'on Spetsial'novo Naznatcheniya
Morskaya Voiska Spetsial'nogo Naznachenia Brigada
Podvodniye Sapyory
Delfin (Dolphin – combat diver unit)
Osobogo Nazacheniya (ONAZ)
Otryad Militsi Spetsial'nogo Naznacheniya (OMSN)

Delta Brigade

FSB Spetsnaz:
Spetsgruppa Al'fa /“Spetsgruppa A”/ Alfa Brigade - (FSB-CT/special ops)
* Spetsgruppa Vympel (“Pennant” or “Banner” - formerly “Zenith” one of two sub-groups within “Al’fa” - disbanded?
Spetsgruppa Beta/ “Spetsgruppa B”
Spetsgruppa Zenit
Spetsgruppa Kaskad (Cascade)

The SVR- (russian CIA) has also its own Spetsnaz unit, called “Zaslon”, but nothing is known about them so far.

MVD (Interior Ministry Troops) Spetsnaz:
Spetsgruppa Vitjaz "Vityaz"
Kondor Division of MVD (Anti-Terrorist)
Spetsgruppa Vega (formerly Vympel - special ops/CT)
Otryad Militsii Osobennogo Naznacheniya (OMON - Special Purpose Militsiia Detachments) “Black Berets”
Spetsial'nye Otryady BystrogoReagirovanya (SOBR - Special Rapid Reaction Detachment)
Spetsgruppa Grom (Thunder)
"Rus`" (Anti-terror, Interior Troops)
"Rosich" (Anti-terror, Interior Troops)
"Skif" (Anti-terror, Interior Troops)

SAUDI ARABIA:
Special Forces (3 Special Forces Companies)
Special Security Force

SINGAPORE:
1 Commando Bn (Airborne)
Special Operations Force (SOF)(CT)
10 Commando Bn (Airborne, Reserve)
Naval Diving Unit (NDU)
-The Clearance Diving Group (CDG)
-Explosive Ordnance Disposal Group (EOD)
-Underwater Demolition Group (UDG)
-Combat Diving Group
Special Tactics and Rescue (STAR) Unit
- STAR Unit "MAC" (Maritime Assault Capability) (STAR's MCT team)
Police Coast Guard's Special Task Squadron (STS)
Singapore Prisons Emergency and Action Response (SPEAR) Force

SLOVAK REPUBLIC:
5. Pluk Specialneho Urcenia (5. PSU - 5th Special Forces Regiment)
2 Special Forces Companies (one based in Bratislava)
Utvar Osobitneho Urcenia (UOU - police CT unit)

SOLOMON ISLANDS:
National Reconnaissance and Surveillance Force
Police Field Force, Recon detachment

SOUTH AFRICA:
Special Forces Brigade
- 1, 2, 4, 5 RECCE, Recconaissance Regiments “Recce Commandos/Recces/Specs Ops” (SAS type unit)
44 Parachute Brigade “Para Bats”
-1, 2(CF), 3(CF) PARA, Parachute Battalions
SAN Combat Divers (SEAL-type; although 4 RECCE has similar role)
SAPS Special Task Force (CT)

SOUTH KOREA:
Republic of Korea Special Warfare Command (ROKA SOCOM) The “Black Berets”
Special Forces Brigades (Airborne): Each brigade has Special Warfare Battalion, Antiterrorism Battalion and Maritime Reconnaissance Battalion.
- 707th Special Mission Battalion (CT and special missions unit)
“Strategic Units”
- 1st “Golden Eagle” Special Forces Brigade: Kimpo Peninsula - specializes in HALO/HAHO operations.
- 3rd “Flying Tiger” Special Forces Brigade: specializes in land infiltration.
- 5th “Black Dragon” Special Forces Brigade: specializes in SCUBA operations.
“Tactical Units”
- 7th “Flying Horse” Special Forces Brigade - Iksan, N. Cholla Province
- 35th Special Forces Battalion -Kunsan
- 9th “Ghost” Special Forces Brigade
- 11th “Golden Bat” Special Forces Brigade - Damyong, S. Cholla Province
- 62nd Special Forces Battalion
- 13th “Black Jaguar” Special Forces Brigade - N. Chungchong Province
- Special Warfare Center: Overall training center for ROKA Special Forces.

Special Assault Regiments: Deployed by each Corp. Similar to US Army Rangers.
8th, 701st , 702nd, 703rd , 705th , 706th , 708th Special Assault Regiment
35th Special Assault Battalion for CDC
201st Special Assault Brigade
203rd Special Assault Brigade
205th Special Assault Brigade
Special Missions Co. ?
Special mission units that specialize in counter-infiltration warfare.

Korean National Police SWAT unit (868 Unit- National Police Counter-terrorism)

ROK Marine Corps (ROKMC)
Special Reconnaissance Battalion “The Shark-men”
1st Marine Division Amphibious Reconnaissance Co.
2nd Marine Division Amphibious Reconnaissance Co.
6th Marine Brigade Amphibious Reconnaissance Co.

Republic of Korea Navy (ROKN) 56 Special Warfare Squadron/Naval Special Warfare Brigade (Underwater Demolition Team/SEALs)
-EOD, UDT, SEAL, Special Missions Group (SMG)
Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Unit - (KSS-51 [mini-submarines], KSS-52, KSS-53 6 x Dolphin class [mini-submarines])
Small Boat Unit 20 x small hovercraft
SSU (Special Salvage Unit)(55 Squadron)

259 SOS [Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) Special Operations Squadron](S-70C/UH-60P)(Special Operations)
233 Search & Rescue Squadron (UH-60P / UH-1H)
ROKAF Para-Rescue Unit?
ROKAF Combat Control Team
MP Special Guard Team (MPSGT)

SPAIN:
Spanish Army:
Mando de Operaciones Especiales (MOE)
-Unidad de Experiencias (Experience Unit)
-Grupos de Operaciones Especiales Valencia III (GOE III)
-Tercio del Ampurdán IV

Fuerza de Acción Rápida (FAR)
Brigada de Infantería Ligera Paracaidista (BRIPAC)
JAE
* Reconocimiento/Sección Avanzada de Desembarco Aéreo (RECO/SADA) (Recon/Pathfinder)

*Unidad de Patrullas de Reconocimiento en Profundidad (UPRP - deep recon patrols/LRRPs)

Brigada de Infantería Aerotransportable (BRILAT)
BRILEG (Brigada Legionaria)
-5th Banderas
-6th Banderas
-10th Banderas

Brigada de Cazadores de Montaña (BRICZM)
Sección de Reconocimiento (SERECO)

Spanish Legion:
- 1 and 2 Tercio: Ceuta and Mellila
- 3 Tercio ] Combine to form basis of RDF
- 4 Tercio ] unit in Spanish Armed Forces with BOEL (infra)

Spanish Air Force:
* Escuadrilla de Zapadores Paracaidistas (EZAPAC -LRRPS, FAC, CT, CSAR etc)
Escuadrilla de Apoyo al Despliegue Aereo (EADA- CCT, ABD/ABGD, NBC defense)

Spanish Navy:
Unidad Especial de Buceadores de Combate (UEBC) (naval commandos)
Unidad Especial de Desactivado de Explosivos (UEDE- naval EOD)
Unidad de Buceadores de Medidas Contra Minas (naval counter mine unit)
Infanteria de Marina- (Naval Infantry)

Brigada de Infantería de Marina (BRIMAR)
Tercio de la Armada (TEAR-Spanish "Fleet Marine Force")
Sección de Reconocimiento (SERECO)
Unidad de Operaciones Especiales (UOE) (Spanish Marines SF)

Guardia Civil:
Unidad Especial de Intervencion (UEI - Civil Guard CT unit)
Grupo de Acción Rápida (GAR - Civil Guard SWAT units)

Grupo Especial de Operaciones (GEO -National Police CT unit)
GEOS (Grupos Especiales de Operaciones) (National Police SWAT teams)

Grup Especial d'Intervencio (GEI) (Catalonia Police SWAT)
Berroci Berezi Talda (BBT- Basque Police tactical unit)

SRI LANKA:
Army Commando Regiment
Special Forces Regiment

SUDAN:
144th Conter-Terrorist Unit (CTU)

SWEDEN:
Amphibious Battalions
KustJagare - Navy Coastal Rangers
Attack Dykarna (Attack Divers)
Rojdykare Division (Mine Clearance Divers)
Säkpluton Sjö (formerly Bassäk-Naval Security Platoon/counter SOF unit)

Flybasjagarna-(Swedish Air Force Rangers /SAFRs- Counter SOF unit)
Fallskärmsjägarskolans Insatskompani (FSJ IK - LRRP type unit)

Fallskärmsjägarskolan (FSJ- trains stundents in LRRP/Ranger type missions)
Särskilda Skydds Gruppen (SSG -Special Protection Group (Delta/SAS type unit)
Livregemente Husarer (ranger type unit)
K4/Norrland Dragoons (ranger type unit)
Militärpolisjägare (MPJ- MP Rangers/hunters counter SOF unit)

Ordningspolisens Nationella Insatsstyrka (ONI - National Rescue Unit - part of the Stockholm Police Dept)

SWITZERLAND:
Fallschirmaufklärerkompanie 17 (FSK 17)

Grenadiere
A Aufkl Det 10 (Armeeaufklärungsdetachement)
- motorize detachment
- para detachment
- mountain detachment
- amphibious detachment

Stern Unit (based in Berne) (CT)

TAIWAN:
Aviation and Special Warfare Command
-601st , 602nd , 603rd Air Cavalry Brigades
-862nd Special Operations Brigade
Army Ranger Training Unit
ROC Army 101st Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalion
Republic of China (ROC) Marine Corps (Chinese Marine Corps - CMC)
-Amphibious Reconnaissance Group (ARG - former Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit (Amphib Recon Battalion) & CMC Special Service Companie)
-2nd Special Task Squadron (100 man marine unit, part of the ARG)
ROC Military Police Command Special Service Company “Nighthawks” (CT)
ROC Military Police Command SWAT units
ROC Navy Underwater Demolition Units (UDU - -Underwater Demolition &
EOD
ROC Navy Fleet Salvage Unit (Navy SAR/salvage unit)

Wei-An (Security Task Force Headquarters):
National Police Administration (Police Corps) SWAT Units
- First Peace Preservation Police Corps Special Services Commando (CT)

*CMC Amphibious Reconnaissance and Patrol Unit “Amphibious Recon Battalion” - deactivated
*CMC Special Service Company (CMC SSC) - deactivated
*ROC Army Airborne and Special Warfare Command Special Service Company/Army Air Special Services Commando? (deactivated)

THAILAND:
Royal Thai Army Special Warfare Command
Royal Thai Army (RTA) 1st Special Forces (Airborne) Division:
RTA Second Special Forces Division
* 1,2,3,4,5 Special Forces (Airborne) Regiments
2nd Special Forces Regiment, PsyOps Battalion
* 5th Long Range Reconnaissance Company
Royal Thai Navy SEALS, Royal Thai Navy UDT, Royal Thai Navy EOD
Royal Thai Marine Corps Amphibious Recon Battalion
Special Unit of the Royal Thai Air Force ?
Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit (PARU)

TUNISIA:
Groupement de Commando of the Garde National (GCGN)

TURKEY:
Paracutcu (parachutist)
Paracutcu Komando (Parachute Commando)
1st Commando Brigade
2nd Commando Brigade
3rd Commando Brigade
Mountain Commando Brigade

Genelkurmay Ozel Kuvvetler Komutanligi - (General Staff Special Forces Command - SFC) “Red Berets”
Muharebe Arama Kurtarma (MAK - CSR/Combat Search and Rescue - Joint service Delta type unit)
Ozel Intihar Komando Birligi (OIKB - CT)

Amfibi Deniz Piyade (Amphibious Rifle Brigade)
- Reconnaissance Platoon
Sualty Alti Taaruz (SAT- Under Water Attack)
Sualty Alti Savunma (SAS-Under Water Defense)
Air Force Search And Rescue Group Command

UKRAINE:
Airmobile Division
Airmobile Brigade
Naval Infantry Brigade
Spetzsnaz
Naval Spetsnaz (combat swimmer unit)
Bars (Snow Leopard)
Yahuar (Jaguar)
Hepard (Leopard).

“Panther” The Panther unit is an anti-terrorist Spetsnaz team operating under the Ministry of the Interior (MOI).
Titan
Gboz MBC

UNITED KINGDOM:
16th Air Assault Brigade:
* Brigade HQ and 216 Signals Squadron
* The Parachute Regiment
* Pathfinder Platoon
* 1st Battalion Royal Irish Regiment
* 7th Parachute Regiment, Royal Horse Artillery
* 23rd Engineer Regiment
* 13th Air Assault Support Regiment, RLC
* 16th Close Support Medical Regiment
* 7th Battalion, REME, and 132d Aviation Support Unit, RLC
* 156th Provost Company, RMP
* 89 Intelligence Section Intelligence Corps
* Air Force Liaison Section, RAF
* 1x Armed Recce Regt from Household Cavalry Regt
* 658 Aviation Squadron, Army Air Corps
* 613, 614 Tactical Air Control Parties, RAF
* 10(Para) Field Workshop, Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers

4/73 (Sphinx) Special Observation Post Battery, 5th Artillery Regiment (Surveillance & Target Acquisition Battery-STA Battery)
The Honourable Artillery Company (HAC), Forward Observation Battery, Royal Artillery (TA equivalent of 148 Battery)

3rd Commando Brigade:
* Brigade HQ and Signals Squadron, RM
* 539 Assault Squadron, RM
* Tactical Air Control Parties, RAF
* Air Defence Troop, Royal Artillery
* 40, 42, 45 Commando RM
* Commando Logistic Regiment
* Commando Air Squadron
* 29 Commando Regiment, Royal Artillery
* 59 Commando Squadron, Royal Engineers
* 845, 846 Naval Air Squadrons, Royal Navy
Brigade Patrol Troop (BPT- former Mountain and Arctic Warfare Cadre (M&AWC))
148 (Meiktila) Commando, Forward Observation Battery, Royal Artillery (Para, Commando, and diver trained FAC’s -support SAS, SBS, and Parachute Regiment)
Commando Helicopter Force (CHF)

Fleet Protection Group, Royal Marines (FPGRM-formerly Commacchio Group)/-Fleet Standby Rifle Troop (FSRT)
O, P, S

Special Forces Brigade:
* 21(TA)(Artists Rifles) Special Air Service (SAS)
* 63(TA)(SAS) Signals Squadron
* 22 Special Air Service:
- Sabre Squadrons (A, B, D, G, R Squadrons) (Includes Anti-terrorist Team)
- Royal Logistics Corps
- Army Air Corps `S' Flight
- 264 (SAS) Signals Squadron
- Operations Research Wing
- Operations Planning and Intelligence Wing (`The Kremlin')
- Demolitions Wing
- Training Wing
- Counter-Revolutionary Warfare Wing
* 23(VR) Special Air Service
* Special Boat Service, Royal Marines (SBS): “C” Squadron, “S” Squadron, “M” Squadron (Black Troop, Gold Troop, -Purple Troop)
Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR)

* Special Forces Flights: No. 7 Squadron, RAF (HC.2 Chinook), No. 47 Squadron, RAF (C-130J), “M” Troop 848 Squadron

The Increment
Army’s Special Intelligence Wing (SIW)
-Force Research Unit (FRU)/Joint Services Group
Intelligence & Security Group (N.I) or 14 Intelligence Company (now part of the SRR)

Brigade of Gurkhas
* 1st Bn, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
* 2nd Bn, The Royal Gurkha Rifles
* Gurkha Signal Bn.
* Gurkha Engineer Bn.
* The Queen’s Gurkha Engineers
* Queen’s Gurkha Signals
* Queen’s Own Gurkha Transport Regiment

UNITED STATES:
Central Intelligence Agency:
* Special Activities Division - Special Operations Groups

US Special Operations Command (SOCOM)
- Army Aviation Support Activity (AASE)
- US Special Operations Command Deployment Cell (D-Cell)

Special Operations Commmand Central (SOCENT)
Special Operations Command Europe (SOCEUR)
Special Operations Command South (SOCSOUTH)
Special Opeations Command Pacific (SOCPAC)

US Army Special Operations Command (USASOC)
US Army Special Forces Command (USASFC)
US Army Special Forces “Green Berets”
* 1,3,5,7,10 Special Forces Group (Airborne)
Special Forces Det.-Korea
* 19th , 20th Special Forces Group(Airborne) (Army National Guard)
Chemical Reconnaissance Detachments
75th Ranger Regiment
* 1/75th Infantry, 2/75th Infantry, 3/75th Infantry, Regimental Recon Det. (RRD)
US Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (USACAPOC)
* 4th PSYOPS Group
* 96th Civil Affairs Battalion
Special Operations Support Command (SOSCOM)
112th Special Operations Signal Battalion (with detachments in Germany and Korea)
528th Special Operations Support Battalion
* 160TH SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) - (2) Battalions at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky ; (1) Battalion at Hunter Army Airfield, Georgia; D/160th in Puerto Rico; E/160th in Korea

10th Mountain Division (Light)
82nd Airborne Division “All Americans”
101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) “Screaming Eagles”
173rd Airborne Brigade “The Sky Soldiers”

US Army Long-Range Surveillance Units (LRSU):
E Co, (LRSD) 125th MI BN
C Co, (LRSD) 110th MI BN
LRSD, 102nd MI Bn
LRSD, 311th MI BN
F Company, 51st INF (LRS) (ABN), 519th MI BN (TE) (ABN)
E Company, 51st IN (LRS) (ABN), 165th MI BN
LRSD, 313th MI BN (82nd abn)
104th INF DET
E Company (LRSD), 629th MI Bn
134th INF DET (LRS)
160th INF DET (LRS)
H Company, 121st INF (LRS)
74th LRSD (173rd Abn Bde)
173rd Inf . Det (LRS) Rhode Island Army National Guard (ARNG)
207th Inf Grp (Scout) Light Recon Det.
F Co. 425th (LRS) Michigan ARNG
143rd Infantry Detachment (LRS) TX ARNG

US Army Pathfinders:
6/101st Avn Regiment Pathfinder Company, 101st Airbone Division
7/101st Avn Regiment Pathfinder Company, 101st Airbone Division
“en-route” Tactical Team B/1/58th Avn Regiment (XVII Abn Corps unit, supports 82nd ABN.)

Joint Special Operations Command (JSSOC):
Campaign Support Group
US Army 1st SFOD-Delta (Also known as “1stCombat Applications Group” or “Combat Development Branch“ )
- A, B, C Squadrons "Sabre Squdrons"
- Aviation Squadron
- “Funny platoon”

* NAVSPECWARDEVGRU (former ST-6):
- Red, Blue, Gold teams (assault)
- Gray team (special boat unit)
- Green team (training)
- Black (recon/surveillance)
- E&R cell
- Sniper Cell
- Force Pprtection Cell

24th Special Tactics Squadron
-Red Flight, Combat Control Element
- Silver Team
-Gold Flight (24th STS Combat Weather Flight)

Intelligence Support Activity (ISA)
-Operations Squadron
A,B,C, D Troops
-SIGINT Squadron
Exploitation Troop
-Communications Squadron

Joint Communication Unit (JCU)

66th Air Operations Squadron, New Beern, NC

66th Air Support Operations Group (?)

Special Intelligence Squadron, US Army Office of Military Support

Army Tactical Support Team

US Marines Corps:
Marine Corps Special Operations Command Detachment 1 (MCSOCOM Det 1)
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Force Reconnaissance Companies
Deep Recon Patrol Company, 3rd Recon Battalion
1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Marine Recon Battalions
Bravo Company (Radio Recon), 1st Radio Battalion
Radio Recon Platoon, 2nd Radio Battalion
Radio Recon Llatoon, 3rd Radio Battalion
Scout Sniper Platoons (SSP) (one platoon per USMC Regt
1st , 2nd , 3rd (USMCR), 4th ANGLICO (USMCR) (Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company)

11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (Special Operations Capable) - MEU (SOC)
13th MEU (SOC), 15th MEU (SOC), 22nd MEU (SOC), 24th MEU (SOC), 31st MEU (SOC)

Special Operations Training Group (SOTG) I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF)
- Special Mission Branch
- Amphibious Raid Branch
- Sniper
SOTG II MEF
SOTG III MEF

US Air Force:
Air Force Special Opertrions Command (AFSOC)
* Special Tactics Teams -Pararescue (PJ) Teams/Combat Controllers 720th Special tactics Group - 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 320th , 321st Special Tactics Squadrons (STS), 10th Combat Weather Squadron
* 16th Special Operations Wing
* 58th Special Operations Wing
* 193rd Special Operations Group
* 352nd Special Operations Group
* 353rd Special Operations Group
* 427th Special Operations Squadron (STOL, CASA-212)
* 919th Special Operations Wing
347th Rescue Wing (347th RQW) - 41st Rescue Squadron (HH-60G, CSAR), 71st Rescue Squadron (HC-130P, CSAR)
- 38th Rescue Squadron (Pararescue squadron)

Air Mobility Command Units:
437th Operations Group Special Operations Division (SOLL II C-17)
16th Airlift SQ (C-141's)
“Night Riders” (C-5 SOLL II) (disbanded)
421st Ground Combat Readiness Squadron (GCRS)

Air Combat Command Units:
Tactical Air Control Parties (TACP)
Special Operations Forces Tactical Air Control Parties (SOF TACP) -
Combat Weathermen - 18th Weather Squadron (Airborne qualified combat weather teams)

Security Forces Units:

Air Combat Command-
820th Security Forces Group: 822nd Security Forces Squadron (SFS), 823rd SFS, 824th SFS
Task Force 1041
99th Ground Combat Training Squadron (GCTS)
Airbase Defense School (Silver Flag Alpha/Expeditionary Readiness Training - ExPeRT)
204th SFS (Heavy Weapons unit also conducts FID missions in Spanish speaking countries)

USAF Europe Units:
786th SFS
USAFE Ground Combat Training Flight
USAFE Ground Defense School (Creek Defender)/USAFE Security Forces Training Flight (Creek Defender)
86th Security Forces Group: 568th SFS, 569th SFS

607th Training Flight (TRF)
PACAF Security Forces Regional Training Center (Commando Warrior)

Naval Special Warfare Command (NAVSPECWARCOM)
US Naval Special Warfare Groups (NAVSPECWARGRU)
* NAVSPECWARGRU ONE-
- SEAL Teams 1,3,5,7
-Training Det
-Logistics and Support Unit
- Combat Support and Service Team
- Naval Special Warfare Unit- ONE (NAVSPECWARUNIT) (1,based in Guam, a Detachment in Kodiak, AK--NAVSPECWARGRU-ONE DET KODIAK and 3 based in Bahrain )
* NAVSPECWARGRU THREE
- SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Team One
- Special Boat Team 12 (SBT-12)
- SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team One ASDS
* NAVSPECWARGRU TWO
- SEAL Teams 2,4,8,10
-Training Det
-Logistics and Support Unit
- Combat Support and Service Team
- NAVSPECWARUNIT (2, 4, and 10, located in Panzer Kasrene, Stuttgart, Germany, Naval Station Roosevelt Roads (NSRR), Puerto Rico, and Rota, Spain respectively)
*NAVSPECWARGRU FOUR
- SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Team Two
- Special Boat Teams 20, 22 (NR)

USN Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD)

VENEZUELA:
42nd Brigada de Infanteria Paracaidistas
Escuela de Operaciones Especiales “G/D Andres Rojas” (EOEAR)
507 Batallon de Fuerzas Especiales
- Buzos de Combate (Army special ops combat divers)
107 Batallon de Operaciones Especiales (107 BOE)

73 Brigada de Cazadores (Hunters/Rangers - Elite light infanty counter guerilla units)
- 232 Battalion de Cazadores “Vicente Campo Elias”
- 233 Battalion de Cazadores “ Juan Jose Rondon”

Grupo Aereo de Operaciones Especiales Nº 10 “Cobras” (AF special ops helo unit)
- Escuadrón 101 “Guerreros” (Bell 412, UH-1B, UH-1D, UH-1H)
- Escuadrón 102 “ Piaros” (AS332B1, AS532AC, SE3160)
- Escuadrón 103 (AF CSAR unit)
Grupo Aereo de Operaciones Especiales Nº 15 (AF special ops/COIN unit)
- Escuadrón 151 “Los Linces” (OV-10A, OV-10E)
- Escuadrón 152 “ Los Avispones” (AT-27 Tucano)

Infanteria de Marina (Naval Infantry/Marines)
Comando de Operaciones Especiales (COMPEMI -SEAL type unit)
- Buceadores de combate- combat divers
- Incursores Anfibios - amphibious raiders
- Para-Comandos- para-commandos
- Embarcaciones Especiales-special boats)

Brigada Acciones Especiales (BAE - National Police CT unit)

Grupo de Acciones de Comandos (GAC) (Guardia Nacional CT unit)
Grupos de Anti-extorsion y Secuestro (GAES) Nº 1, Nº 3 (Guardia Nacional anti-kidnap units)

VIETNAM:
"Dac Cong" (Special Forces)

ZIMBABWE:
Parachute Brigade

August 13, 2006 at 10:24 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

British troops in 5-day chase of Taliban

British troops in 5-day chase of Taliban - Sunday Times - Times Online

Tim Albone, Lashkar Gah
IN the wild, unforgiving terrain of southern Afghanistan, over which people have fought for centuries, the latest players on the battlefield are crack British troops in light, manoeuvrable Land Rovers.

The Pathfinders, an elite unit of 16 Air Assault Brigade, spent five days on a gruelling pursuit of Taliban militants across this rugged landscape, it emerged yesterday. The hunt culminated in their first engagement with the Taliban since 3,300 British troops arrived in Helmand province.

Violence in the region has intensified in recent weeks as the poppy harvest — the mainstay of the local economy and the scourge of heroin-importing countries — comes to an end and farmers sympathetic to the Taliban resume the battle against government forces and the “foreign invaders”.

In the past fortnight more than 400 people, most of them anti-government militants, have been killed. The casualty rate reflects the reckless streak of the Taliban whose specialities, beyond intimidating the local population into giving them food and shelter, are suicide attacks and roadside ambushes.

The Pathfinders, who saw action recently in Sierra Leone, are also a formidable bunch. Their physical selection is on a par with that of the SAS.

“They are very, very tough,” a military expert said. “They are the hand-picked elite. They undergo long forced marches.” They are also known for the “halo”, or “high altitude low opening” parachute jump.

None of this stops them from feeling somewhat vulnerable in WMIK Land Rovers — specially adapted armed vehicles without roofs or doors. Yet there is no better vehicle for this difficult terrain, say the Pathfinders, who prefer speed to armour.

Their dash through the mountains began on May 17, when they were unexpectedly summoned to the rescue.

A poorly trained police force of 100 in the town of Musa Qala had been cornered by a much greater force of Taliban fighters. “They said there were 500 Taliban, but I am not sure how accurate that is,” said a British source. Already 13 policemen had been shot dead. They needed help, and quickly.

Travelling down roads that are often little more than rutted gravel tracks, it was a white-knuckle ride. Often the dried out riverbeds or wadis made an easier route. The threat of ambush slowed things further: despite being far more rigorously trained than the Taliban, the British soldiers were well aware that their enemy knew the terrain a lot better. The 30 Pathfinders also knew they were greatly outnumbered.

By dawn on Friday, May 19, they were perched high above Musa Qala with a good view of policemen storming out of the town in Toyota pick-up trucks — the standard vehicle for Afghan fighters, whichever side they are fighting on.

The tables had turned. Driven by a desire to avenge their heavy casualties and aided by reinforcements from other parts of the province, the police had seized the advantage. A long line of their vehicles was snaking up the valley in pursuit of the Taliban.

The British tagged on to the end of this extraordinary convoy. They were soon deep in enemy territory, a land where very few, if any, coalition troops had ever set foot. This was where Mullah Omar, the fugitive one-eyed Taliban leader, was reported to have fled after American military might put paid to his eccentric medieval regime in late 2001.

With temperatures pushing 50C and the threat of ambush growing ever greater, it became an even more uncomfortable journey.

When the Pathfinders reached the outskirts of a town called Baghran in the mountainous far north of the province on Saturday the sound of gunfire greeted them: the police had resumed contact with Taliban fighters on the fringes of the town. For the moment, however, they seemed unwilling to push forward.

The British called in air support. Soon a giant American B1 bomber was flying lazy circles at low altitude over the town.

Its menacing rumble alone seemed enough to dampen the spirits of defenders who knew only too well the devastation one of these American planes can unleash. The policemen pushed into town without meeting further resistance.

There followed a shura or meeting between British troops, Afghan police and the town’s elders over glasses of sweet tea. “The elders said to us, ‘The Taliban are here and we are scared’,” said the source. “They were pleased to see us.”

It was not until later in the day that the real trouble began. The British were on their way back to Musa Qala when, but for their extraordinary stealth and training, they might have driven into a lethal trap.

“In a place called Paysang, we became aware that there were a few people there who shouldn’t be there,” said the source. “There was a large gorge and it was evident that they were setting up an ambush.”

The chatter of gunfire began echoing down the valley as Taliban fighters opened up on the British with their Kalashnikov assault rifles and machineguns, and the British returned fire with M4 carbines — not the standard issue for British soldiers but nonetheless a highly effective weapon.

The British sources would not confirm whether any fighters were killed or wounded.

Again the British called in air power, this time French Super Etendard jets based on the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Backed by British troops, Afghan police assaulted the Taliban from different positions. The exchanges carried on for much of the rest of the day and once the French jets had done their work American A10 Warthog anti-tank aircraft were called in to make a few low sweeps over enemy positions.

As the Pathfinder source put it laconically: “A couple of shots were fired. A few of our guys came into contact, but the contact finished and we carried on into Musa.”

Afghan police say the five days of fighting left 60 Taliban dead. The British arranged for two injured Afghan policemen to be evacuated. Another policeman had been killed, the only death among police ranks since the British had joined them.

Arriving back in Musa Qala last Sunday, the exhausted British soldiers found several families loading up their belongings to cross the river and leave. They had been threatened by the Taliban.

“When they saw us and heard what we and the police had to say, they decided to stay. They also said some other families were planning to leave but they would tell them to stay as well,” said the source.

The British set up patrols with the police and strengthened the force’s compound. Today they will be replaced by US special forces. Returning to base, the Pathfinders will have their first hot shower and cooked meal in 14 days.

The Taliban have often claimed that the British are too frightened to fight them face to face, a charge proudly denied by Colonel Charlie Knaggs, head of the British presence in Helmand. “There are now a few Taliban in the north of Helmand,” he said, “who couldn’t say that they hadn’t faced British troops without telling a lie.”

August 13, 2006 at 10:09 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS rescue team gave Kember's kidnappers time to flee

SAS rescue team gave Kember's kidnappers time to flee - World - Times Online

From Daniel McGrory in Baghdad
BRITISH officials allowed the kidnappers of the peace activistNorman Kember to escape so as not to endanger the life of the hostage when he was rescued in March.

Hostage negotiators feared that, after almost four months in captivity, Mr Kember, 74, might have been too frail to survive an SAS assault on the kidnappers’ hideout. The armed gang was given 15 minutes to flee, leaving the veteran British campaigner and two Canadian colleagues in safety.

A senior Western diplomatic source said: “The ultimatum was passed through an intermediary. It was a calculated risk but our priority was the safe return of Mr Kember and the two other hostages from the Christian Peacemakers’ Team (CPT). Our intelligence was that the kidnappers were not religious fanatics willing to die with their hostages, though we knew they were violent as they had by then murdered the American member of the CPT, Tom Fox. But we believed they were criminals whose main aim was to save their own skin.

“It is always a delicate matter how best to resolve such crises, and we get criticism, but we got the three hostages back, none of the rescuers was hurt, nor any innocent bystanders, and those responsible will be found,” the source said.

It had never been explained why the kidnappers abandoned their hostages minutes before the rescue team arrived.

The revelation that Mr Kember’s captors had been tipped off came amid a diplomatic row over allegations that the German Government had paid a substantial ransom to free two engineers this week.

German officials do not deny a suggestion by Alaa al-Hashimy, Iraq’s Ambassador in Berlin, that “a lot of money was paid”. Speculation abut a payment raised concern that, after a recent lull, criminal gangs might kidnap more foreigners for money. French and Italian authorities are said to have paid to free some of their citizens in Iraq.

British officials insist that no cash was paid to secure Mr Kember, from Pinner, northwest London. However, there is debate among Western diplomats whether it was right to let the kidnappers go. Iraq’s Interior Ministry is now responsible for finding them.

The fugitives belong to a notorious criminal gang with links to groups believed to have sold captives to militant Islamic groups. Intelligence officials say that the gang has collected millions of dollars in ransoms over three years and is thought to have done business with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, al-Qaeda’s leader in Iraq. Al-Zarqawi is held responsible for the murder of the British engineer Ken Bigley and other Western captives.

Mr Kember was criticised by General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, for not thanking publicly the troops who saved him. His wife, Pat, 70, received hate mail.

But soldiers involved in the rescue told how a jubilant Mr Kember posed for photographs with them. Pictures that show him hugging the SAS team now decorate a villa used by British Special Forces in Baghdad.

A military source close to the British-led rescue mission told The Times that rescuers were astonished at how quickly a suspect whom they had arrested on March 23 had betrayed the kidnappers’ safe house to MI6 interrogators.

The house was only a mile from the British Embassy but was surrounded by family homes, another factor behind the decision to try to resolve the crisis without a gunfight.

The rescue, at night, was led by 32 men from B Squadron of the SAS, backed up by 40 other British troops and heavy artillery. A series of trusted intermediaries used during weeks of negotiations ensured that word was passed to the kidnappers, who left the hostages chained together in a ground-floor room. The SAS team used stun grenades during the raid as they were not sure the kidnappers had gone.

British negotiators admit that they were losing hope of securing the release of Mr Kember, and the Canadian captives, James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden, after weeks of silence from their captors, who at no time sought a ransom.

August 1, 2006 at 07:10 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Special forces to strike at Taliban

Special forces to strike at Taliban - Sunday Times - Times Online

MORE than 200 SAS and SBS troops are being flown to Afghanistan this weekend to mount a search and destroy operation against the Taliban, writes Michael Smith.

The reinforcements will double the number of British special forces on the ground and commanders hope that they will be able to deal the Taliban a crippling blow.

Senior defence sources said: “We need to break the back of this offensive now in one fell swoop.”

Des Browne, the defence secretary, is expected to tell MPs tomorrow that at least one additional battle group of about 700 infantry soldiers, extra transport helicopters and more ground attack aircraft are also being sent.

The move is in response to intelligence indicating that fighting in which six British soldiers have died may be the prelude to a much larger Taliban offensive.

The only frontline British soldiers on the ground in Helmand are one infantry battalion and a company of Gurkhas. The rest of the 3,300-strong British taskforce is made up of support troops.

July 9, 2006 at 01:07 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

'Have you ever used a pistol?'

'Have you ever used a pistol?' - Sunday Times - Times Online

CHRISTINA LAMB, ZUMBELAY, AFGHANISTAN
ST war reporter cornered with paras in fierce Taliban ambush
“HAVE you ever used a pistol?” yelled Sergeant-Major Mick Bolton amid the Kalashnikov fire and bursts from a machinegun as we ran across a baked-mud field and dived for cover. “If it comes down to it, everyone’s going to have to fight.”

Round after round fizzed past our ears, sending up clouds of dust. My heart was thudding crazily against my flak jacket, my breath coming in short, rasping pants.

The whoosh of a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) close enough to lift the hairs on the back of my neck was followed by an orange blaze of flame as it landed nearby.

I hurled myself into an irrigation ditch and crouched amid the tall reeds, the soil just above me flying up as bullets landed all around. Then firing started coming from behind too. The Taliban had us from three sides.

It was late last Tuesday afternoon. Justin Sutcliffe, the photographer, and I were with the elite of the British Army, 48 men from C company of the
3rd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment — with an attachment of airborne troops from the Royal Irish Rangers — facing a bunch of Afghans in rubber sandals.

We could not see them, but we knew they were less than 100 yards away.

The silver-haired sergeant-major had kept us amused for days with his wisecracks, behind which was a touching concern for his soldiers and adoration for the girlfriend he was due to marry in November, whose photo he had shown me.

Now this veteran of two tours in Iraq and six in Northern Ireland was telling us we were the closest he had ever come to being “rolled up”.

“If we get overrun I’ll save the last bullet for myself,” said Private Kyle Deerans, a handsome South African of 23. With his black floppy hair, I was sure had broken a string of hearts.

In horror, it dawned on me what had been wrong about Zumbelay, the village we had just visited on a hearts and minds mission with soft hats and offers of development projects. I should have noticed there were no children around.

There was no more time to think about that as a mortar landed nearby. “Get out of the ditch!” screamed someone.

I wanted to stay in hiding. “No, no, it’s not safe,” said Lee, a military policeman attached to the unit, tugging me away.

I clawed my way up the slippery bank, oblivious to the thorns ripping my hands. I felt terrifyingly exposed as I climbed over the mound and rolled down the other side.

“Keep down! Keep down!” came another shout. As I flattened myself, a mortar landed just where I had been crouching.

For the next two hours we were trapped under such relentless fire that we thought we would be killed. The ambush of our lightly armed patrol not only was unexpected but also brought into question the entire strategy being pursued by the British in Helmand, the huge province they have taken on.

The paras had been in lively mood earlier that day when we left Camp Price, the British base at Gereshk, a sprawling town of walled compounds, two bridges and a bazaar.
C company is a close-knit group and the trip was the furthest east they had ventured since arriving in Gereshk two months ago.

The plan was to go to Zumbelay, meet villagers, then camp before stopping at another village on the way back.

Some of the soldiers had not been out of the camp before and none had experienced a “contact” with Taliban, unlike their fellow paras in A company who have had what they describe as a “fruity” time and were engaged alongside British special forces further north.

To keep the men occupied, Major Paul Blair, C company’s wiry Irish commander, had organised an “iron man” contest the day before involving a series of ordeals such as flipping a giant tyre, standing bearing heavy weights in a crucifix position and sprinting round the camp carrying boxes of ammunition.

As we set off with cold drinks and Pringles, we joked about going on a picnic. “Aggressive camping is what I call it,” said Colour Sergeant Michael Whordley. They laughed at me in my local dress of shalwar kameez worn with desert boots and a flak jacket.

We were in a convoy of 15 vehicles, an assortment of Snatches — the lightly armoured Land Rovers that have caused such controversy over their vulnerability to roadside bombs in Iraq — open troop-carriers and Wmiks, open Land Rovers that look a bit like safari vehicles except for the machinegun on the front and heavy guns mounted on top. Their deadly firepower would save us.

As we drove out of Gereshk we noticed a man in a black turban pull out on a motorbike and follow alongside for a while. But we could hardly hide our intentions, sending up clouds of dust visible for miles as we travelled east through the desert.

Long ago, when the Russians occupied Afghanistan, I travelled around on the backs of motorbikes of anti-Soviet mujaheddin who went on to become Taliban. Even back in 1989 they regarded them as the best form of transport against a fixed army.

The journey east took about 90 minutes through a landscape of undulating sand and gullies in temperatures close to 55C.

We were close to Zumbelay by late afternoon — that special time of day when fingers of fading sunlight trap the dust being churned up by men returning to the village with small herds of goats.

Most of Helmand is desert but Zumbelay seemed a small oasis. Bedouin tents and mud-walled houses, some with courtyards of flowers, were scattered amid a patchwork of fields of tall green grass and dried poppy stalks. A wide canal ran through one side, with deep irrigation ditches leading off between fields.

The convoy stopped about a mile from Zumbelay. A fire support group (or FSG) drove off in the Wmiks with a mortar team to take up a secure position beyond a ridge to protect us in the event of trouble.

The rest of us downed helmets and walked in, crossing a field where a few scrawny camels gazed curiously at us. I caused hilarity by falling into a ditch.

Everyone commented how quiet and bucolic the village seemed. “All it needs is a nice pub where we could enjoy a cold pint,” joked Major Blair as we watched a kingfisher swoop low over the water in a flash of bright green.

Even the name had a nice ring to it: Zumbelay made me think of Manderley from Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca.

Of course Manderley had a sinister secret and in retrospect the quiet of Zumbelay was suspicious. The one thing we should have noticed was the lack of children, who usually come running up demanding pens or baksheesh.

We sat on a raised bank at the edge of the field under a mulberry tree along with a few other men, one of whom seemed to be glaring at us from under his sparkly prayer cap.

“We are British not Americans,” explained the major through an interpreter. “We come at the invitation of your government as friends and brothers to help you and find out what you need.”

An old man with a white beard said that the other elders were at the mosque for prayers. (Later we would realise it was not prayer time.)

He said the village had no problems and suggested we come back for tea two days later on Thursday at 10am when everyone would be around.

As we took our leave, he pointed in the opposite direction to the way we had come. “If you go that way there is a bridge,” he said.

Afghans are the most hospitable people on earth, offering everything when they have nothing. I was thinking it was unlike them not to offer tea to visitors; but Major Blair seemed quite happy.

“I think that went well — they seemed quite friendly,” he said to me as we walked away.

Almost immediately a burst of gunfire rang out from the ridge to the left where the FSG was deployed.

“We’ve had a contact,” came the message over the radio.

They had spotted a gathering of 12-14 men all dressed in black and armed.

Two of the support group’s vehicles had peeled off to try to intercept them; but as they did so RPGs started to rain in on the support base — followed by small arms fire.

For a moment, we stood staring up at the ridge listening to the gunfire and explosions. Then we started walking again through a field, looking for the bridge.

Within seconds we heard the staccato crack of Kalashnikovs. I threw myself into a ditch as bullets whizzed overhead.

“Helmets on!” shouted someone. “Put your f****** helmets on!”

I followed the paratroopers, running for our lives across the fields. The ground had been ploughed weeks before and had baked hard into dry, treacherous ridges. We stumbled over the furrows, with bullets and loud explosions all around us. I wished I was wearing camouflage instead of the blue press flak jacket and helmet that made me so visible.

I DID not see Justin fall as we ran. He said: “I lost my footing and managed to turn onto my back as I ploughed into the ground, my body armour taking the impact of the fall.

“Looking up, a rocket- propelled grenade flew over our heads about 10ft above, bursting in the field near a group of paras who had made the sprint in better time.

“I struggled back to my knees in time to see the first mortar round land exactly where we had been only half a minute earlier. The troops returned fire. A prolonged burst of rapid machinegun and rifle fire. Then, using white phosphorus grenades as cover, they moved left to take up firing positions behind the ridge.

“Again we were diving to the ground to avoid incoming fire, but this time it was to our left flank as well as the original direction. Feeling very exposed, we returned fire and ran back to a ridge along the field at right angles to our position.

“Once again we took incoming fire, this time from behind us. Their mortars seemed to be mercifully slow at retargeting and they fell where we had just left.”

All around me was shouting and screaming. The two platoons had been scattered by the ferocity of the ambush. In the deep ditches their radios were not working. The soldiers were releasing canisters of red or green smoke to show each other their positions, even though this would reveal them to the Taliban too.

The firing came again and again, with hardly any break in between. The 8ft deep irrigation ditches which criss-crossed the fields had turned into trenches. In and out of them we climbed, slipping and falling in the muddy water as the paras tried to regroup, yelling instructions I did not understand, such as “Go firm!”, which means stay still.

“When we shout ‘rapid fire’, run!” yelled Corporal Matt D’Arcy as we crouched in yet another ditch. “Rapid fire!” he screamed and, ears ringing amid a clatter of heavy fire that I could not identify as ours or theirs, I forced myself to climb out of the trench.

One of the Afghan interpreters stayed praying and moaning in the ditch until Private Deerans, the handsome South African, grabbed him by the collar and kicked him out.
I thought about my husband, Paulo, and our six-year-old son, Lourenço, back home in East Sheen, southwest London; of the World Cup birthday party Lourenço was due to have this afternoon; and how stupid it would be to die in this muddy Helmand field from a Taliban bullet.

In my belt purse were some of Lourenço’s toy cars and pens he had given me for the “poor children of Afghanistan”. I had taken them to the village but never got a chance to give them out. I had to survive and the image of my son’s face kept me running and jumping into yet another trench.

Frantically, I looked around for Justin. We have worked together on and off for years, surviving everything from arrest in west Africa to abduction in Pakistan and regard each other as a kind of talisman. In the initial confusion we had split up and I had no idea if he was all right.

In fact he was with Major Blair, a usually charming man, who was very angry indeed.

“Where’s the f****** air support?” the major was yelling on the radio to British headquarters at Camp Bastion, reading off a GPS position.

“Two A10s 10 minutes away can be with you for 20 minutes,” came the reply. Nothing arrived.

“We need air support. Where’s the air support?” Major Blair radioed again after sliding on his back in another trench, pulled down by the weight of the kit on the mud.

The message came back that the A10s had been called off to Sangin, a village to the north where two British special forces had been killed. No other planes were available because heavy fighting was still going on.

Why they were more important than us was unclear.

“We’re going to have to get out of this alone,” Blair said. He checked the grenades on his belt. Later he explained: “I was counting them because I thought the fight would get down to 25 yards.”

While Justin was with the captain, I was in a group led by Corporal D’Arcy. At one point we ran one way back towards the village only to be fired on from that direction.

“They’re playing with us like chess pieces,” shouted the corporal. The Taliban clearly had someone on the ridge to the right of us directing movements, for they were constantly changing position.

I ran some more and found myself in a trench with the platoon snipers, including Private Deerans. Some used .338 Magnum rifles, which sounded like a cannon. Others were armed with Minimi 5.56s, the army’s lightweight machinegun.

“Look, two over there behind that white mound!” shouted Sergeant Whordley, who at 39 is in his last year in the army.

KNOWN as the Buzzard, the sergeant usually controls the helicopters in and out of camp, but he had begged to go along on the patrol. “In 22 years of service I’ve never been in anything like that,” he said later.

“Got him!” shouted Private Deerans as a man in a blue shalwar kameez and short beard popped out from behind the mound and straight into his sights to be hit in the chest. “I f****** killed him!”

The day before I had learnt that a private like him earns just over £1,000 a month, and that the British Army is the only one in the world whose soldiers pay tax while overseas.

“Happy days!” shouted someone back. I looked at him incredulously. This was the worst day of my life by an awfully long way.

Back in the 19th century thousands of Englishmen split their blood on fields like this and I didn’t want to join them. I thought about John Reid, the former defence secretary, glibly saying he hoped to complete the three-year British mission to Helmand without a shot being fired. If this wasn’t a fourth Anglo-Afghan war, it felt very much like it.

Why were we there? Why had we thought the Afghans wouldn’t fight — they defeated the Russians after all. And why did everyone in Kabul and London keep insisting that nobody in Helmand really wanted to support the Taliban but were being forced to?

What if they were wrong? After all, almost everyone in the province now depends on growing poppies. Whatever the British commanders might say, villagers must see the presence of British troops as threatening the opium trade.

I thought back to a conversation with Captain Alex McKenzie, commander of the FSG, before we had left on this patrol. “We’ve never been out to these villages and want to see what kind of reaction we get,” he had said, adding that, according to US intelligence, there were between six and eight medium-level Taliban commanders in the valley just under a mile to the north.

“If you ask me, what we get is a Taliban attack,” I had said to Justin.

“How much ammo have you got left?” Corporal D’Arcy called to his snipers. Were we running out? And where was the promised airpower? What about Britain’s new Apache helicopters that we had all heard so much about.

“Targets at 10 o’clock! Targets at 10 o’clock!” shouted someone.

“No, don’t shoot, they’re civvies!” yelled Corporal D’Arcy.

“How can we f****** tell?” screamed someone else.

The firing had been going on for almost two hours and I was finding it harder and harder to run. I had thrown off everything, even dropping my notebook — something I have never done in 19 years as a foreign reporter — and, less wisely in Helmand’s infernal heat, my water bottle.

I was gasping from thirst.

Lee, the military policeman, saw my plight, thrusting the straw from his camel pack into my mouth and urging “drink!” before pushing me to run again.

My helmet was almost falling off because of the broken strap I had never got round to fixing.

I have been in some hairy situations, not least in Afghanistan, a country that I love, where at the age of 22 I was trapped in trenches by Russian tanks with a group of mujaheddin. But this was the first time in my life that I thought I would not survive.

Worse, I looked at the taut faces around me — and could see the soldiers thought that too.

I thought about all the things left undone in my life, words left unsaid or unwritten, but most of all, my little boy’s big blue eyes and curly hair, and I just wanted it to stop.

FOR the next two hours we were under relentless fire from AK47s, RPGs, mortars and a Dushka, a Russian-made heavy machine gun.

Justin — separated in a trench with a group led by Major Blair — was under attack from all sides, but witnessed the turning of the battle.

“We were ordered out of the ditch and, under heavy covering fire, scrambled up the sides. Breaking towards the river we came under fire again. This time there was a massive burst of fire from the FSG on the ridge directed at the Taliban.”

The Paras had managed to regroup impressively. The men of the FSG beat off their own ambushers, drove their vehicles to the south where they were more secure and then moved back north along the ridge to our aid — with devastating effect.

“We could see the group of 10 to 15 men who engaged us moving toward the houses down below,” said Captain McKenzie later, “so we let rip with the four 50-cal heavy guns.

“The force of the blast from those guns are so powerful they can rip off your arm without even hitting you. All that was left of those guys was a pink mist.”

Down below we managed to get away from the fields of trenches and onto open ground, where I felt even less secure but the Paras were much happier because they could see. They assured me it was all right to run across the exposed hillside. “Single file with good spaces between! Single file!” barked Sergeant-Major Bolton. “This is not Club Med!”

By that time it was 8.30pm and light was fading. Only then came the reassuring sound of the Apaches, almost two hours after they had been requested. With those overhead, we reached the vehicles and withdrew.

The battle was not over. There was only one way back to Camp Price and only one bridge back over the Helmand river. Major Blair was convinced the Taliban would lay an improvised explosive device (IED) or ambush us there. We could not go back.

INSTEAD we drove south through the desert. At last we had air support. I was in Major Blair’s Land Rover and all the time his radio operator was in touch with the planes overhead.

On and on we drove through the bumpy sand until the pilots assured us there were no ACMs (anti-coalition militia) within a mile or so and we pulled the vehicles into a herringbone formation, where we would stay for the next few hours.

We all tumbled out of the vehicles and started talking, pumped up with adrenalin at having survived. Veterans of conflicts all over the world said they had never experienced such a battle, and none of us could believe we had survived unscathed.

“I’ve never been in anything as intense as that,” said Major Blair. “That was a 360-degree battle.”

“I’ve done two tours in Iraq but that was nothing to this,” said Corporal D’Arcy.

Everyone was stunned at how quickly the Taliban had organised themselves and how co-ordinated they had been. From the time we had walked into the village to the start of the ambush was less than an hour and they had been undeterred by our array of hardware.

“That’s as bold as it comes,” said Captain McKenzie, shaking his head in awe. He added: “The Taliban are quite ingenious but they’ve probably got 25 dead blokes and we’ve got none and that speaks volumes.”

Private Deerans said: “We don’t tend to think the Taliban can fight as well as us, but they’re fighting for something they really believe in and they have the advantage of local terrain. They’re world-class at getting rounds down but fortunately their shooting was crap.

“Still, it was close enough for me. They had the advantage from the beginning and I don’t know how none of us got shot.”

Some of the men realised they had forgotten to wear their wedding rings that day. “I have my fiancée’s ring on a string and it’s the first time I’ve gone on an operation without it,” said Sergeant-Major Bolton.

I looked at my own bare finger, remembering how while checking in for my flight at Heathrow 20 days earlier I had realised the two rings I always wear were in an oyster shell by the side of my bed.

The big question was whether the villagers were in on the ambush. It seemed clear to me that they had directed us straight into it, and there must have been locals fighting for them to organise so quickly.

“Maybe they were coerced by the Taliban,” said Major Blair. The official British line is that 80% of the population of Helmand are “floating voters” stuck between a rock and a hard place of an evil Taliban and a government in Kabul that does nothing for them.

It seemed more likely to me that they feared the British had come to take away their source of income, the poppy.

While we were discussing this, another burst of gunfire ran out. Surely we were not under attack again. “Hush,” warned the sergeant major. “Everyone still and quiet. It’s not over yet.”

We still had to get back across the bridge into Gereshk, and we needed air support.

I lay on the warm sand staring up at the stars that covered the sky. In the distance were flashes I first thought were shooting stars until someone told me it was from the fighting still going on at Sangin.

I looked at my watch. It was after midnight Afghan time, mid-evening in Britain. I realised that had I been in England I would have been at a summer party on the roof of New Zealand House in Haymarket, central London.

For the next two hours Camp Bastion kept telling us that “all assets” were tied up in Sangin where the snatch raid on four Taliban commanders had succeeded in getting two of them before descending into a bloody firefight where Harriers, Apaches and A10s had all been called in.

Surely they weren’t going to leave us to go back on our own?

In between his radio pleas for airpower, Captain Mackenzie and I discovered we grew up near each other, although I had done so a good 10 years before him, and knew the same pubs.

It was after 1.30am when we finally got the nod for air support — only to find that three of our Snatches had got bogged down in the sand. Amid all the stars we could just see the lights of two American A10s, anti-tank aircraft of awesome destructive power.

“How long have we got air for?” asked Major Blair as spades were used to dig the vehicles out. “Forty more minutes,” came back the pilot’s American accent. After that they would have to refuel.

Major Blair checked his watch. It was going to take a good half an hour to get to the bridge and some of the Snatches were still stuck.

I remembered Corporal Robert Jones, an American Humvee driver I had met, who had expressed horror at how exposed the British vehicles were. He had told me that if any American vehicles got bogged down for more than five minutes in Helmand they abandoned them.

“We just hate going west from Kandahar,” he said. “It’s all IEDs, RPGS, Taliban, Al-Qaeda. We call it Hell-man.”

Eventually the vehicles were pulled out and we were on the road to the bridge. We reached it just before the planes had to refuel.

“Please don’t let there be an IED,” I prayed.

“Do you want me to give a show of force?” came the pilot’s drawl over the radio. “Could drop to 5,000ft and drop some flares.”

“Many thanks,” replied our controller — and we all laughed in relief at his very British reply as we crossed the bridge safely, white flares dropping all around us.

It was already first light as we drove into Camp Price to be met by those who had been left behind, half-anxious and half-envious. It was clear that there was now a big question mark over the British hearts and minds operation.

“I’m going to have to review our approach to villages,” said Major Blair. “We’re going to have to go in with far more security. It’s very annoying to think we were sitting there offering things and having a laugh and a joke with villagers who knew that five minutes later we’d be attacked.”

MORE and more senior military officers are saying it has been an enormous mistake for British troops to move out of the main urban centres of Lashkar Gah and Gereshk and into outlying areas.

They blame the Americans — and some over-enthusiastic British generals — for dragging British forces into Operation Mountain Thrust, a large offensive against the Taliban in which some 500 people have died across the south, creating much local resentment.

What some have described as “military and developmental anarchy” may change when Lieutenant-General David Richards, Nato commander in Afghanistan, takes control of the Helmand operation on July 31. On the military front, the general wants more fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters, and the British government is seeking more military support from its European allies. But General Richards has also been bashing heads together on the need to make some improvements in the lives of the Afghans.

Five years after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan still remains bottom of the list for almost every major indicator from infant mortality to lack of access to water or electricity.

“We’ve got to stop talking and start doing,” he said recently. “Otherwise we’re in danger of losing this.”

It may be just too late. Disillusion with the government of President Hamid Karzai has never been so high. The Taliban have reorganised, possibly with the help of both the Pakistani military intelligence and Al-Qaeda, to use the sophisticated tactics I experienced first hand in Zumbelay.

No longer are they just a few dozen ragtag fighters here and there. Now groups often include hundreds of heavily armed men equipped with motorbikes, cars, horses and radios.

All over the south they have set up shadow administrations and kill any Afghan who is even indirectly associated with the government, such as teachers. Approximately 1,500 Afghan security guards and civilians were killed by the Taliban last year and some 900 already this year.

The Taliban are also winning the propaganda game. Within a few hours of our returning to Camp Price, the Afghan Islamic Press in Peshawar had put out a statement claiming the Taliban had killed seven British soldiers in Zumbelay.

Far from losing any men, the brave paras from C company had killed about 20 Taliban. Yet the Ministry of Defence put out nothing. If Justin and I had not been there, you would probably never have read about it.

July 2, 2006 at 02:03 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Information Taken From 'The SAS in Action' - Peterhead Prison

Peterhead Prison Hostage Rescue

In parallel with adapting its role to a changed world overseas, the SAS found itself in some unexpected situations in the UK. One such was the Peterhead Prison siege in Scotland in October 1987. It was to lead to a rescue remarkable even by SAS standards.

Fifty dangerous prisoners, some serving long sentences for multiple murder and rape - men with nothing to lose - seized control of the prison's 'D' Block. Once they had got the riot out of their system, the majority gave themselves up, but a hard core of four or five men continued to resist. They held as hostage a 56-year-old prison officer with one kidney who needed drugs and medical attention to stabilise his condition. His worsening state, day by day, put the authorities under unenviable pressure.

The hard core group retreated into the roof space high in one corner of the building and roosted behind barricades, threatening to cut their hostage's throat if any attempt was made to take them. With regular rooftop performances they could ensure that their appeal to television and microphone would give them an audience beyond the prison governor. The stalemate continued for almost a week, during which the prison authorities invoked the help of Grampian Police. The police adopted a gradualist approach, their special reaction team armed with all that was necessary, remaining one side of the barricade, the prison rebels the other, constantly watched through fibre-optic lenses and other special security equipment.

During the proceeding months, there had been a series of prison disturbances in Scotland. The Peterhead stand-off, however, was dragging on a little too long. The stalemate might make sense on the spot but not in the larger world outside, particularly in Whitehall and Downing Street. After urgent talks between the Scottish Office, headed by Malcolm Rifkind and the Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, another two-man advisory team was sent at police request from Hereford. The men set off by helicopter at about 10pm and arrived at the prison in the early hours of the following morning. Their remit was not to break the siege directly but to offer advice to the civil authorities and the local police force. The police believed that the task was one for the SAS. Their legal right to seek military assistance was copper-bottomed. Under the rules laid down for Military Aid to the Civil Power (MAC-P) a soldier breaks the law if he refuses to aid the civil police when they ask him to help. More generally, police forces know that they have the right to call on military power via the Whitehall bureaucracy if order breaks down to a point where they cannot control it.

The use of military power - with its implication of military firepower- within the realm, directed against British citizens has been an emotive topic for years. It still conjures up memories of 1911, when Home Secretary Winston Churchill used the Scots Guards with Maxim gun to suppress armed anarchists in London's East End; after which the Worcester Regiment opened fire on rioting rail strikers in Wales and 50,000 troops prepared to move on London or Liverpool, where three warships were also brought to bear from the Mersey.

In the great French student revolution of 1968 known as 'Les Evenements' rioters controlled much of Paris until the CRS riot squads used CS gas to clear the streets. The British view has always been that aside from Northern Ireland, resort to such a high profile of official force is alien and politically dangerous.

As a result, Britain does not have the benefits of a 'Third Force' specialising in civil commotion which goes beyond normal police control, yet falls short of armed insurrection. The only military team with experience of precisely targeted violence available at the time of Peterhead, and for long afterwards, was the SAS. British police forces, although armed with CS by 1987, were unready to use it in an enclosed space or at all, if possible.

One of the SAS Regiment's most enduring characteristics is its lack of inhibition about going for the heart of a problem without agonising. Peterhead was a task for a small, swift snatch squad using the weapons of surprise and speed plus a puff or two of CS (technically smoke rather than gas) to keep the opposition subdued during the few minutes required to retrieve the hostage.

The prisoners' prisoner, the advisory team noted, was the only bargaining chip left to a tiny handful of rioters still holding out in an area under continuous electronic surveillance. While the discussions continued, the SAS advisers arranged for carefully calculated explosive charges to be attached to various entry points into the wing. There was no need to make a hole in the roof. The prisoners had done that themselves as a way of reaching their television audience. The main assault line proposed by the adviser would require balance and cool nerve: it involved an exit through a skylight, a rope-assisted descent down a steeply pitched roof to a rain gutter followed by a walk of some yards, in the dark, un-roped, with a drop of around 80 feet to the yard below if anything went wrong. This was perceived by the SAS team as an entirely normal procedure; the police were not convinced.

There were more negotiations through the government's crisis management group, COBRE, in London with the Director of Special Forces, an SAS brigadier. Five days into the crisis, late on into the night of Friday 2 October, a regimental response team flew by Hercules to an airhead some miles from the prison. They brought their standard weapons - HK MP5 sub-machine-guns and Browning pistols - though this was not a task for which firearms would be needed. Their adviser, already on the scene, had arranged for a supply of police staves around 4 feet long instead.

It was well after midnight when the aircraft touched down north of Aberdeen. First light was only a few hours away and the unblinking gaze of television would then resume. The condition of the hostage was getting no better. Somehow, the rescue squad had to be inserted into the prison unobserved; break the deadlock, achieve a clean rescue and get out, still unseen by media and prisoners, by dawn.

The team first moved from the airhead by prison bus to the prison gymnasium. It was 4am. There were two hours of darkness left. From London, COBRE had given final assent to an SAS operation. They were now committed. Briefings were pared down to essential details. The snatch squad of four men would make the hazardous journey from skylight to prisoners' roof-hole, by way of the gutter. Back-up teams would blast a way into the floors below on each side of the building and follow through to close any escape route. Once rescued, the hostage would be brought out to the care of a reception party, which included a resuscitation team. Another group would receive the surrendering prisoners with handcuffs.

At around 5am, wearing CS masks and armed with their staves, the four-man assault team eased open the skylight and hauled themselves outward. It was a slippery, wet sort of morning to be on the tiles, or slates, of a Scottish prison. To walk the length of the gutter in the dark, with vision dangerously limited by a gas mask demanded a superhuman balance. With the 'good, solid Victorian' gutter creaking slightly under his rubber boots, the point man moved gently forward, aware that if things went wrong at this stage he could find himself dangling, like Buster Keaton, on the end of a very precarious hold indeed. Yet things were OK, he assured himself. He was nearly at the prisoners' hole now.

Things were not entirely OK. Across the yard to the right, the prison's B Block held several hundred men -- and not all of them were sleeping. 'Watch out, lads! They're coming after you!'

The voice that bellowed across the echoing space between the two buildings was one of the prisoners who had, in all probability, given himself up earlier in the siege. Before the lights could come on, before other voices joined the clamour, the SAS point man had reached the hole. So too, almost at the same moment, did one of the prisoners. The soldier thrust the 'flash-bang' stun grenade into the space separating them and as the prisoner staggered back, the soldier followed it up with a smouldering CS cartridge, then swung his legs over the void and dropped inside. One man threw a punch before the CS got to him. Soon those inside the roof were coughing and spluttering uncontrollably, eyes streaming. Small explosive charges around the building swept aside the barricades and announced the arrival of the follow-through teams.

The first of the rescue squad, who had tested the walk along the gutter, was back on the roof by now, hauling the hostage out to the clean air. He then half-carried, half-dragged the prison officer along the gutter to the point where the skylight rope crossed it. The rescued man, weakened by his ordeal as well as illness, was in no condition to get himself up the rope. He was dragged up the last stage of his uncomfortable road to freedom by the same SAS soldier who had brought him this far. As at Princes Gate, the rest were propelled along a line of soldiers.

'Move! Move!'

CS smoke was oozing round the rest of the wing now, tickling eyeballs and throats beyond the immediate combat zone, reviving memories, perhaps, of hard nights in Ballymurphy and Whiterock. But a prison officer's life had been saved and his captors restrained without loss of life or serious injury. This was not 1911, after all. Just five months before the furore at Gibraltar, this was a singularly neat example of the use of minimum force, without firearms, to resolve what was, in SAS eyes, a simple problem. The job had taken just six minutes from the moment the first soldier slipped through the skylight to the moment when the hostage, his face marked with cuts, was reunited with his family in a secure, guarded area. A few legal formalities - Scottish legal formalities, this time - had to be observed. Statements were given to the police, explaining, justifying what was done and how. The soldiers slipped away to their bus and their waiting C130 after just ninety minutes on Scottish soil. Even for Scots on the team, it was long enough - given the circumstances. They were home in Hereford in time for a second breakfast, in time to hear all about it on the morning radio news.

June 28, 2006 at 05:03 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Special forces soldiers killed during daring raid

This story is understandably light on detail, but it appears an SAS snatch squad (8 ?) + 30 Gurkhas were ambushed and managed to hold off 75 Taliban until rescued, but lost two.

Special forces soldiers killed during daring raid - World - Times Online

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor

The two special forces soldiers killed during an hour-long firefight in southern Afghanistan were part of a daring raid on a Taleban stronghold in which four key commanders on the "Most Wanted" list were seized.

The details of the "snatch" operation emerged as the next of kin of the two special forces soldiers were told of their deaths. Their names are not going to be released at the request of their families.

The SAS, the Royal Marines’ Special Boat Service (SBS) and the newly formed Special Forces Support Group, consisting of troops from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment, were all involved in the largest covert operation launched in southern Afghanistan since British troops were deployed there last month.

Defence sources said there had been intelligence that four key Taleban leaders were in a compound in the village of Sangin in the far north of Helmand province, where 3,300 British troops are now based.

The special forces "snatch squad" was backed up by two companies of about 100 paratroopers from the 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment.

The soldiers from 3 Para launched an attack on the compound, providing covering fire as the snatch squad moved in and grabbed the four Taleban leaders. They were described as "high-value targets".

At that stage there had been no British casualties and the secret mission appeared to have been a success.

However, under the detailed planning for the operation, the snatch squad with the soldiers from 3 Para were to withdraw rapidly in Land Rovers and rendezvous with a quick-reaction force, waiting south of Sangin village. The quick-reaction force consisted of about 30 Gurkhas and other paratroopers armed with 105mm light guns, the only artillery the British forces have taken to Afghanistan.

The defence sources said that as the two units were approaching each other in the pitch dark, they were ambushed by dozens of Taleban fighters who must have been contacted following the successful snatch of four of their leaders. Some reports suggested there were at least 75 Taleban fighters, armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and AK47 Kalashnikov rifles.

The sources said that in the dark it was unclear exactly how many Taleban were involved, but they emphasised that they held the advantage as they were opening fire on the British troops from well-concealed ambush positions.

A full-scale battle ensued, with British troops coming under sustained fire for more than a hour. One soldier involved in the battle told The London Evening Standard: "We stood and fought very hard."

During the firefight, two of the Taleban commanders seized from the compound managed to escape, and the other two were killed. The defence sources said the two dead Taleban commanders were probably hit in the crossfire.

It was during the firefight that the two special forces soldiers were also killed. One of them was believed to be part of the special forces support group which was set up last year to provide extra firepower for SAS and SBS operations. The SAS and SBS are operating together in southern Afghanistan.

The British troops called for airpower to attack the Taleban ambush positions, and the major assault only came to an end when an RAF Harrier GR7 from Kandahar and an Army Air Corps Apache attack helicopter arrived overhead to pound the Taleban fighters. Up to 30 Taleban were killed, according to the defence sources.

Brigadier Ed Butler, commander of British Forces in Afghanistan, said: "The two soldiers [who died] acted with great courage and outstanding personal bravery, given the odds they faced."

The plan had been to take the Taleban leaders down to the British base at Camp Bastion at Lashgar Gah for interrogation. However, despite the escape by two of them and the deaths of the other two, Brigadier Butler said the operation had been a success, and would help to restore security to the people of Sangin, acknowledged to be a Taleban hotspot.

Intelligence sources said it was estimated that about 1,000 Taleban fighters had come into Helmand province from Pakistan in the last few weeks, underlining the scale of the challenge the British troops are now facing.

June 28, 2006 at 04:52 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS troops killed in midnight ambush

SAS troops killed in midnight ambush - World - Times Online

By Tim Albone in Kabul and Michael Evans, Defence Editor
TWO SAS soldiers were killed in a midnight ambush in southern Afghanistan during an hour-long firefight with the Taleban, which ended only after an RAF Harrier and an army Apache attack helicopter bombarded hostile positions.

The battle erupted on Monday as an undercover unit of SAS soldiers was operating on the outskirts of Sangin in the northern part of Helmand province. The unit came under sustained fire, and as the special forces troops took up defensive positions, they called for back-up. The soldiers who were killed were on foot.

Defence sources said that a quick-reaction force from 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery arrived in Land Rovers, equipped with 105mm light artillery. The rescue force also came under fire and one of its Land Rovers was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade.

Last night the Ministry of Defence would not release either the names of the soldiers or confirm their regiment until next of kin had been informed. A third soldier was seriously wounded.

As part of the back-up, a Harrier GR7 and an Apache attack helicopter provided air support, targeting Taleban positions, and the 105mm light guns were also used. The deployment of air power and artillery underlined the scale of the ambush and the determination of the British to seize control of Sangin, which military sources described as “a toxic mixture” of Taleban and drug traffickers.

While these are the first members of the SAS believed to have been killed in Afghanistan, the British Army has now lost three of its soldiers in the Sangin area since deploying to Helmand a few weeks ago. Captain James Philippson of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery was the first to be killed in Sangin. He was shot while trying to rescue colleagues from an ambush two weeks ago. Ten have been killed in Afghanistan since the British were first deployed there, in November 2001.

The Taleban, who, it is believed, lost several fighters in the attack on Monday, immediately claimed responsibility for the deaths, with Qari Mohammed Yousaf, its purported spokesman, telling the Reuters news agency that his fighters carried out the ambush.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, offered his deepest condolences to the families of the latest victims. He had hinted that it was a special forces operation when he said that the soldiers were not part of the Helmand battle group.

The district of Sangin, in the mountainous north of the province, is known to be a hotbed of Taleban activity. The steep valley sides provide ideal places from which to launch ambushes. The area has no roads, only dusty tracks, and Taleban fighters know the terrain well.

The British were airlifted in by Chinook helicopters from Camp Bastion, the main British base, only weeks ago and are still learning the terrain. Movements are hampered by sweltering heat, of about 45C (113F).

The troops are particularly vulnerable to rocket attacks and roadside bombs because the armoured Land Rovers that they drive were designed for Northern Ireland and offer only light Kevlar protection. However, military sources emphasised that “no one died inside a Land Rover” on Monday.

In other violence, two Afghan soldiers and 11 Taleban rebels were killed in fighting 20 miles north of Sangin in the town of Musa Qala. In the province of Uruzgan, which borders Helmand, a further ten militants were killed after their compound was stormed by coalition and Afghan forces.

In Ghazni province police and Taleban clashed, leaving three militants dead. A suicide attack targeting a German military convoy in the province of Kunduz killed two Afghan civilians as well as the bomber.

BRITISH FORCES IN AFGHANISTAN
# There are 3,300 troops of 16 Air Assault Brigade — which includes 3rd Battalion The Parachute Regiment — and eight Apache helicopters, at Lashkar Gah, Helmand province

# 1,000 troops are in Kabul with the HQ staff of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force

# 200 RAF personnel with six Harrier GR7 bombers are in Kandahar

# Total military presence: about 5,000, including Royal Engineers building Camp Bastion, the main base in Helmand province

# Total casualties: ten since November 2001. Five have died from hostile action

June 27, 2006 at 11:45 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Army's top general attacks Kember for failing to thank SAS rescue team

World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online

By Nick Meo, Michael Evans and Daniel McGrory
Freed hostage will arrive home today amid growing concern, report our correspondents
NORMAN KEMBER, the freed peace activist, will arrive back in Britain today amid growing controversy over his failure publicly to thank the military forces who rescued him.

Neither Professor Kember nor the Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) organisation for whom he worked have acknowledged the work of the soldiers who rescued him and two Canadian hostages on Thursday, or of the teams of military and intelligence officials who spent months trying to track them down.

General Sir Mike Jackson, the head of the British Army, expressed the unhappiness of the military last night when he told Channel 4 News that he was “saddened that there doesn’t seem to have been a note of gratitude for the soldiers who risked their lives to save those lives”.

Before flying out of Baghdad on an RAF aircraft yesterday, Professor Kember and his two fellow hostages released a brief statement that said nothing about the rescue force. It read simply: “We are deeply grateful for all those who prayed for our release. We don’t have words to describe our feelings, our joy and gratitude. Our heads are swirling; when we are ready, we will speak to the media.”

It was the third set of comments Professor Kember had relayed to the media that failed to mention his rescuers. A lengthy statement released by CPT after the hostages’ rescue on Thursday not only failed to thank their rescuers, but called on coalition forces to withdraw from Iraq.

The only oblique acknowledgement came from Professor Kember’s wife, Pat. In a statement released through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office last night, she thanked “all those who have helped secure his release”. But she, too, made no mention of the British-led unit that freed her husband in western Baghdad. She praised “government agencies and my family liaison officers”, but did not directly refer to the soldiers who stormed the kidnappers’ hideout in darkness.

CPT has always made it clear that its members did not want force to be used to rescue them if they were kidnapped or held hostage.

But, in the event, the coalition devoted huge resources to securing their release. The SAS, special forces from the US and Canada and military intelligence officers spent months trying to locate them.

A force consisting of SAS troopers backed up by about 50 paratroops and Marines spearheaded the task force that rescued them. US and Iraqi troops were also involved in the mission. Relaxed and rested after his 36-hour stay at the fortified British Embassy in Baghdad, Professor Kember was flown out of the green zone by military helicopter yesterday to begin his journey home. He then boarded an RAF military transport at Baghdad airport for the short flight to neighbouring Kuwait. From there he was being flown home.

Maxine Nash, of CPT in Baghdad, said that the organisation had not paid for his flight back to Britain. She said: “He elected to go through the Embassy, they arranged it. We did offer to pay for commercial flights for everyone but that can be difficult because it means driving through dangerous areas.”

She admitted that the pacifist hostages had mixed feelings about being rescued by the military. She said: “Our mandate is violence reduction so this was a tough call. Before they were kidnapped both Tom and Jim had said they didn’t want to be rescued.” Ms Nash said that the group was now considering leaving Baghdad. “After what has happened we’re going to spend some time thinking about what to do.”

Last night British diplomats in Iraq tried to sidestep the row over the apparently ungracious behaviour of the peace activists. Diplomatic sources let it be known that the three men did agree to face further questioning yesterday from intelligence agents trying to hunt down the group who held them for 118 days.

An intelligence source said: “They gave what help they could. They recognise that there are other hostages, including Westerners, still in captivity who we believe were taken by the same group.”

The source added that Professor Kember had “privately expressed his thanks to his rescuers” though he did not meet them. The activists explained that they could not be of much help with descriptions of their captors as the group kept their faces covered.

The three men revealed how, shortly before the SAS burst their way into their prison before dawn on Wednesday, their captors suddenly moved them to a downstairs room.

They were tied up and bound together. The hostages heard their captives leaving the property. British officials insisted that there had been no deal to free the trio.

They said that interrogators told the gang member they arrested this week that he must reveal the location of the hostages or face 30 years in jail.

RESCUE FIGURES

The hunt for Norman Kember and his fellow hostages involved

250 men from the Task Force Black US/British/Australian counter-kidnap unit

100 men from Task Force Maroon, the Paras and Royal Marines backing special forces

15 men in helicopter crews

AND tens of thousands of pounds spent on helicopter and transport aircraft flights

March 24, 2006 at 07:13 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Two minutes to freedom in SAS mission

World news from The Times and the Sunday Times - Times Online

By Nick Meo in Baghdad, Michael Evans, Daniel McGrory and Tom Baldwin
Iraqi suspect gave the multinational rescue force a crucial tip-off that led to house where Norman Kember was held
FOR a man in his seventies who had been held hostage for 118 days, never knowing if his captors were going to kill him, Norman Kember was in playful mood after his rescue by British forces from a house in west Baghdad yesterday.

Embracing fellow peace activists at the British Embassy, Mr Kember exclaimed: “I’ve just found out I’ve been released. It must be true — it’s on the news.” He and the two Canadians who had been held hostage with him, Jim Loney, 41, and Harmeet Sooden, 32, spent an emotional hour with fellow members of the Christian Peacemakers Team.

Most of the time was spent “hugging and sharing vanilla and chocolate ice-cream”, Anita David, one of the activists, said. “There were tears, smiles and laughter.”

The only painful moment was when the activists had to tell the three hostages that their American colleague Tom Fox, who had been separated from them 40 days ago, had been murdered. “They didn’t know what had happened to him and it has come as a horrible shock,” Ms David said.

Mr Fox’s handcuffed, bullet-riddled body was found on March 9, dumped in a street not far from where the peace activists were rescued in yesterday’s dawn raid.

The long-awaited breakthrough that ensured Professor Kember and the two Canadians were spared a similiar fate came late on Wednesday night when one of two Iraqi men picked up by US troops during a raid in the capital revealed where the three were being held. Officials in Baghdad and London were saying little about the genesis of the operation, but it is thought that the young Iraqi had been under surveillance for several days and his capture was more than mere good fortune.

For months a secret unit known as Task Force Black, commanded by a senior SAS officer, has been quietly hunting Iraqi war criminals and searching for hostages.

Task Force Black is a combined team of about 250 US, British and Australian special forces backed up by intelligence personnel. After the hostages were snatched while leaving a mosque in western Baghdad last November, Scotland Yard also sent in trained negotiators, the Canadians flew in their kidnap experts, and FBI agents and MI6 officers were in Baghdad trying to make contact with intermediaries who could put them in direct touch with the kidnappers.

British undercover troops, bearded and dressed as Iraqis, met religious leaders and tribal elders to piece together scraps of information about the hostage-takers, who called themselves the Swords of Righteousness Brigade. Satellite photographs, telephone intercepts and reams of other information were examined in minute detail. Intelligence officers followed up dozens of tip-offs from paid informants, community leaders and Iraqi police, but all leads had proved false until the detainee betrayed his crucial secret.

The SAS had narrowed down the likely location of the kidnappers’ base to the scruffy suburbs of western Baghdad around al-Hurriyah, a stronghold of mainly Sunni insurgents and criminal gangs responsible for dozens of abductions of Iraqis. The detainee disclosed the precise address, describing the location and making sketches of the house and the nearby roads.

For weeks the special forces had practised strategies for taking kidnappers by surprise. They used mock-ups of various types of properties, unsure if the hostages were held in a basement or in a house where children lived. Now they had to act fast. Their concern, according to one source, was that the hostage-takers might realise that one of their gang had been captured and kill the three Westerners before escaping.

At about 3am yesterday the SAS squadron commander in charge of the rescue force summoned his team at their base inside the heavily fortified green zone. The force consisted mainly of SAS troopers, backed by about 50 soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Parachute Regiment and Royal Marines — all members of the Special Forces Support Group codenamed Task Force Maroon.

Defence sources told The Times that helicopters with reconnaissance cameras and Predator unmanned aerial vehicles, which can monitor movements on the ground from 20,000ft, were deployed. The men who spearheaded the rescue arrived in a convoy of cars disguised as local taxis and pick-up trucks.

Half the team set up a cordon several streets away from the target so that innocent civilians did not blunder into an operation that might end in a shoot-out. The 25 men who burst into the two-storey building used classic hostage-rescue techniques, storming every room simultaneously to ensure no one escaped.

They found the three hostages sitting bound on the floor of a ground-floor room. Their captors had fled. No shots were fired. In case the kidnappers were lurking nearby the hostages were cut free, taken out of the building and bundled into the back of an army Land Rover. Less than two minutes after the rescue force had entered the building, the three Westerners were on their way to freedom.

They were driven to the green zone to waiting British officials. Professor Kember, who had always said that he did not want to be rescued by military force, had been saved by exactly that. Behind them the rest of Task Force Maroon searched the hideout, looking for clues as to the identity of the kidnappers and evidence indicating where other western hostages might be held.

Major-General Rick Lynch, a spokesman for the coalition forces, revealed they suspected that the peace activists were taken by “a kidnapping cell” who were behind other abductions in Baghdad.

Zalmay Khalilzad, the US Ambassador to Iraq, said he hoped that their rescue might help to secure the release of Jill Carroll, an American freelance journalist kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7.

Although the three hostages had been through a terrifying ordeal, British intelligence officers were waiting to speak to them. “They needed to know anything the three might be able to tell them about their abductors, or whether they had seen or heard any other Westerners while they were in captivity,” the security source said.

Only after this initial questioning were the men examined by a doctor. Although he was the oldest by some years, Mr Kember seemed the most robust. The two Canadians needed some minor treatment, but, while they were being seen to, all the men were allowed to telephone home.

Back in London, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, told the Cabinet about the successful end to the operation. “For once we had good news from Iraq,” one Downing Street source said. “Tony Blair is delighted and sends his thanks to the forces who carried out this mission so professionally”.

Later, when they were reunited with their fellow activists, the hostages were even able to laugh about their ordeal. They said they had been treated well, although food was in short supply. They told how they were sometimes allowed to watch television but were out of touch with what had been happening in the past few months. “They were very curious about some of the things they had seen on TV and wanted us to explain what had been going on,” said Ms David.

“They didn't express any regrets about coming to Iraq for their mission, although I think it's too early to say whether they will return.”

March 24, 2006 at 07:02 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS to review its role in Iraq after trooper's revelations

Telegraph | News | SAS to review its role in Iraq after trooper's revelations

By Sean Rayment
(Filed: 19/03/2006)

The Special Air Service is to question its own role and tactics in Iraq following allegations by a former member that the elite regiment was taking part in an illegal war.

The Sunday Telegraph has learnt that senior officers will hold an informal "debriefing session" this week when soldiers of all ranks will be invited to give their views and opinions on how the SAS conducts operations in Iraq.

The regimental debriefing follows the revelation that Ben Griffin, 28, told his commanders that he was no longer prepared to fight alongside American forces.

The soldier, who had served with the regiment for two years, had expected to face a court martial but was allowed to leave the Army with a glowing testimonial in June last year.

The SAS routinely holds informal briefing sessions when members of all ranks are urged to voice their opinions on operations.

Mr Griffin's decision to sacrifice his career in the SAS because of his beliefs have received a great deal of support from serving soldiers of all ranks across the Army and members of the public.

A soldier who was attached to the SAS and served alongside Mr Griffin in Iraq wrote to the Sunday Telegraph last week saying he "fully concurred" with Mr Griffin's view that the war was illegal.

The serviceman, who asked not to be named, wrote: "I am able to concur fully with his assessment of the ground situation as he saw it.

"I was engaged for five months on Operation Telic 1, the original invasion of Iraq. The overwhelming feeling experienced by many of us, after the initial doubts as to the reason for the invasion, was the sense that there was no "phase four" - the actions that were to follow after the fall of the regime. We were in a vacuum of direction, filled by political indecision."

He confirmed that he had also witnessed occasions when American troops punched and kicked Iraqi civilians during house searches. He added: "Once I saw an American soldier verbally abusing an Iraqi so badly I was forced to intervene.

"I don't know why the SAS are in Baghdad. They don't seem to be doing anything of any consequence. The intelligence they are acting on is not good and they seem to be spending their time arresting criminals rather than terrorists."

Patrick Mercer, a former infantry officer and the shadow homeland security minister, said: "The Ministry of Defence has got to treat its people consistently. You can't court martial one man and honourably discharge another for crises of conscience.

"The Defence Secretary has got to play with a straight bat."

March 23, 2006 at 07:08 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Special forces free Iraq hostages, including Briton

Norman Kember freed - World - Times Online

By Philippe Naughton

Norman Kember, the 74-year-old peace campaigner, is expected to be flown home to Britain tomorrow night after being released from 118 days in captivity in Baghdad.

British and US special forces released Mr Kember and two Canadian activists without firing a shot today, ending a four-month ordeal during which hopes for his freedom rose, and then faded when a fellow hostage, American Tom Fox, was murdered.

The three Christian campaigners were freed in an SAS-led raid on a house in western Baghdad early this morning. Their captors had already fled.

Mr Kember, a retired professor, is in good health and is reported to have told staff at the British Embassy in Baghdad: "It's great to be free. I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK."

A life-long pacifist, Mr Kember was kidnapped with Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32, and Mr Fox, a 54-year-old American, in a lawless district of west Baghdad on November 26. All four were volunteers with the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams.

In the weeks that followed, friends and family of the hostages held vigils, but diplomatic attempts to win their release came to nothing. Videos made by their captors were broadcast, but were followed by ominous silences.

On March 9, the stalemate was broken when Mr Fox's body was found handcuffed on a rubbish dump in the Iraqi capital and fears grew that the kidnappers, a group unknown before the hostages were seized, might be preparing to kill the other three.

Today's rescue operation was led by British forces and came after weeks of planning, according to British sources. But a US military spokesman, Major-General Rick Lynch, said the information that led to the assault came from one of two men detained by American forces late last night.

At 8am (0500GMT) the raid was launched and all three hostages were found tied up in the same room of the house, he said. Operations continue to track down the kidnappers.

"They were bound, they were together. There were no kidnappers in the areas," Major-General Lynch told a press conference in Baghdad. "The key point is that it was intelligence-led and it was information gathered from a detainee."

The Iraqi Interior Minstry said that the three had been rescued from a house in the town of Mishahda, 20 miles north of Baghdad, but it appeared that the house was actually in Baghdad's western outskirts.

Reports of the operation were confirmed by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, who delivered a statement in Downing Street this morning.

"The three hostages, Norman Kember, a British hostage and two Canadian hostages, have been released as a result of a multi-national force operation which took place earlier today. British forces were involved in this operation," Mr Straw said.

"It follows weeks and weeks of very careful work by our military personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well. I am delighted that now we have a happy ending to this terrible ordeal for Norman Kember, for his family, and for the Canadian hostages and their families as well."

The Foreign Secretary praised Mr Kember's "Christian fortitude" and said that he had spoken to Mr Kember's wife, Pat. "It goes without saying that she is absolutely delighted, elated, at this news," he added.

Mr Kember's brother, Ian, said he had not time to digest the news. "I haven’t got my thoughts together yet," he said from his home in Taunton, Somerset. "It’s a wonderful thing, and it’s obviously a great relief, but beyond that I haven’t come to terms with it yet."

The Reverend Alan Betteridge, a friend of Mr Kember for more than 40 years, said: "We are immensely relieved and thankful, especially after the death of Tom Fox, which made us very fearful. We were praying for his release this morning. We have been praying for them every day."

Terry Waite, who was held hostage in Beirut for 1,760 days before being released in 1991, told Ruth Gledhill, religion correspondent for The Times: "This could not have been done without someone from the inside giving good intelligence."

Relief at the rare, happy resolution of an Iraqi kidnapping spread across the Atlantic. Stephen Harper, the recently-elected Prime Minister of Canada, said he had spoken to the two Canadian hostages by telephone.

"The safe return of these men is what we all sought," he said. "I want to thank all those in Canada and around the world who worked so tirelessly to secure their safe release."

In Washington, the White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan, said: "It’s good news that the hostages have been rescued. They are safe and free now."

Doug Pritchard, co-director of the Christian Peacemaker Teams, which sent the team to Baghdad, also welcomed the news, but he said that Mr Fox's murder meant that their colleagues' joy was "bitter-sweet".

The ordeal of the four men, and the peaceful purpose of their mission in Iraq, attracted enormous sympathy across the world. British Muslim groups lobbied for their release, although it is unclear what contact, if any, was made with their kidnappers.

Mr Kember's wife also released a televised message appealing for his release via the al-Jazeera television network, and further appeals for mercy were made by Moazzam Begg, the former British detainee in Guantanamo Bay, and by Abu Qatada, a terror suspect held at Full Sutton jail near York.

The release comes two weeks after the broadcast of a video showing Professor Kember and his fellow captives.

Security experts who analysed the 25-second clip said they were encouraged by the absence of terrorist paraphernalia such as guns, flags and orange jumpsuits, and by the lack of a new deadline. They thought that the three had escaped the clutches of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the al-Qaeda terrorist leader thought to have personally executed Ken Bigley, a British engineer, and other Western hostages.

The most high-profile Western hostage still missing in Iraq is Jill Carroll, a freelance journalist working for The Christian Science Monitor, who was kidnapped in Baghdad on January 7. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.

The US Ambassador in Baghdad, Zalmay Khalilzad, said he hoped today's operation would improve her chances of freedom. "My expectation and hope is that the released hostages and the associated activities, in terms of information gathered, could help us bring about her release as well," he told Fox News.

March 23, 2006 at 07:04 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

50 years after his death, maverick colonel may yet receive the VC

Telegraph | News | 50 years after his death, maverick colonel may yet receive the VC

By Tom Peterkin, Ireland Correspondent
(Filed: 14/12/2005)

As a founding member of the SAS, Lt Col Blair "Paddy" Mayne was one of the most decorated heroes of the Second World War, winning four Distinguished Service Orders, the Legion d'Honneur and the Croix de Guerre.

Fifty years after his death, a campaign for a posthumous Victoria Cross is gathering momentum amid claims that he was unjustly denied the ultimate gallantry award.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Col Mayne's death, at the age of 40. He died in his sports car near his home in Newtownards, Co Down, 10-years after showing "unsurpassed heroism" while taking out German snipers.

His actions on April 9 1945, at Oldenburg, north-west Germany, earned him a recommendation for the VC, which was turned down in controversial circumstances.

More than 100 MPs support early day motions claiming a "grave injustice" when his VC recommendation was downgraded to a third-bar DSO.

The VC citation describes how Col Mayne was ordered to lead the 4th Canadian Armoured Division through enemy lines.

His "brilliant leadership and cool calculating courage" and "a single act of supreme bravery" drove the Germans from a strongly held village.

Under fire and in full view of the Germans, he seized a Bren gun and burst into several houses, killing and wounding enemy soldiers. He then jumped into a jeep and cleared a path by shooting from the hip at the enemy.

Col Mayne rescued Allied wounded in the face of intense machinegun fire.

"His cool and determined action and his complete command of the situation, together with his unsurpassed gallantry, inspired all ranks," said his citation.

Yesterday Ian Gibson, the Norwich North Labour MP who tabled one of the early day motions, said: "We have had no satisfactory answers why he cannot be awarded the VC. It is small-mindedness."

At the time, it was reported that George VI inquired why the VC had "so strangely eluded him".

Maj Gen Sir Robert Laycock, the post-war Chief of Combined Operators, wrote to Col Mayne saying "the appropriate authorities do not really know their job. If they did they would have given you a VC as well".

Sir David Stirling, founding father of the SAS, who chose Col Mayne as one of his first recruits, called the decision "a monstrous injustice".

A possible explanation was disapproval of his rebellious streak. When he drank, he was wild.

This was first noted when as an Irish rugby international he toured South Africa with the British Lions in 1938. When not playing in all three Tests, he relaxed by wrecking hotels and fighting dockers.

The Blair Mayne Association has recently unearthed a 1945 document from the Canadian national archive suggesting that he was denied a VC because it was "not a single-handed act of heroism". Another soldier was said to have given covering fire.

Don Touhig, the veterans' minister, said it would be wrong to reverse commanders' decisions of 60 years ago. It is hoped that next month's 150th anniversary of Queen Victoria instituting the VC could bring a change of heart.

tpeterkin@telegraph.co.uk

January 15, 2006 at 07:44 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS man threatens to quit over delay in Iraq shooting case

Telegraph | News | SAS man threatens to quit over delay in Iraq shooting case

By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 17/11/2005)

An SAS trooper who is being investigated over the killing of an Iraqi man during a skirmish was said to be on the verge of resigning from the regiment yesterday after waiting 10 months to hear if he will be charged with unlawful killing.

The case adds further fuel to the accusations that the military is delaying the administration of justice after The Daily Telegraph reported that Col Jorge Mendonca would have to wait 18 months between being charged in connection with the death of an Iraqi in his regiment's custody and facing a court martial.

The Special Air Service senior NCO's family is reported to have been "extremely wound up" waiting for a decision from the Army Prosecuting Authority, the military's equivalent of the Crown Prosecution Service.

If the case goes to court martial it would be the first time that a serving SAS soldier has been prosecuted for murder in the Hereford-based regiment's 65-year history.

The case prompted at least 20 of the man's comrades to threaten resignation earlier this year in disgust at the authorities.

"It's a bloody nonsense with this charge hanging over him," an SAS source said last night. "This is really winding him up and his family is suffering too not knowing what is going to happen next."

He added: "People in Hereford are going out on very dangerous operations and the next thing they find themselves in court. It's just a complete nonsense."

A spokesman for the Attorney General's department, acting on behalf of the APA, said they were still "awaiting a decision" on the case from the APA. But lawyers have accused the APA of an abuse of process and infringing human rights legislation by delaying the cases.

Andrew Robathan, the shadow defence minister and a former SAS officer, said it was very worrying that the matter could lead to a "drop in morale" within the regiment. "If morale has been damaged these highly trained soldiers are aware that there are very well paid jobs going in Iraq that are attracting numerous people from Special Forces,'' he said.

"The Ministry of Defence also needs to be aware that we spend a lot of money training these people and if morale has been damaged by these investigations it just gives them added incentive to leave."

The SAS man is being investigated after the shooting of a tribesman, Ghanin Gatteh al-Roomi, in Basra on Jan 1 last year. It is alleged that the Iraqi was shot while holding an AK47 during a gunfight with British troops.

The Army's Special Investigations Branch investigated the case after Mr Roomi's relatives claimed that he had been shot in the back on his doorstep.

Mr Roomi's body was exhumed and a post mortem examination allegedly revealed that the round had entered via his back.

The SAS source added: "The regiment thinks that the generals are more interested in obeying the politicians than looking after their own troops."

It has also been revealed that a decision was taken by senior officers not to investigate every round fired by soldiers in Iraq after the number of cases overwhelmed the military police.

The procedure had been copied from Northern Ireland but now the Special Investigations Branch only investigates incidents in which civilians have been killed or badly wounded.

November 18, 2005 at 12:47 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Captured SAS men 'spying on drill torturer'

Telegraph | News | Captured SAS men 'spying on drill torturer'

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 16/10/2005)

Two SAS soldiers imprisoned by Iraqis last month had been spying on a senior police commander who was torturing prisoners with an electric drill, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.

The real story behind the soldiers' undercover operation emerged last week after the Government promised to pay compensation for any injury or damage caused during the rescue operation.

It is understood that the Special Air Service had been ordered to carry out surveillance operations against several members of the Iraqi police, who were believed to be responsible for torturing prisoners at the notorious Jamiyat prison in Basra.

Military sources said that the operation was ordered by senior officers after the body of an Iraqi, who had been arrested by the police for smuggling and gun-running, was found on the outskirts of the city in April. An examination of his body had revealed that an electric drill had been used to penetrate his skull, hands and legs.

Iraq factfile

Iraqi sources later gave information to the Army that suggested the torture had been carried out by a senior police officer, who is a member of one of the most powerful tribes in southern Iraq.

It had been previously reported that the SAS had been monitoring the activities of police officers thought to be members of the al Mehdi army, an insurgent organisation trying to force Britain to withdraw from southern Iraq. Sources within the Army now believe that hundreds of people who have been arrested by the Iraqi police might have been tortured at the prison, a two-storey complex that houses Basra police's major crimes unit and was once nicknamed Gestapo HQ by British officers.

British Government ministers are understood to be extremely concerned and embarrassed by the allegations of torture because it was the Army that helped to re-create the police force and reopened Jamiyat jail.

Brig John Lorimer, the officer who launched the raid to rescue the two SAS men who were taken prisoner, gave an indication of the problems at the jail when he described it in an interview with this newspaper as a "very nasty place".

The SAS detachment in Basra was given the task of trying to establish who was behind the reign of terror at the jail. They were also warned to tread carefully because the Iraqi police were meant to be allies of the coalition.

"The finger of suspicion started to point in the direction of a senior officer inside the Jamiyat," said a senior Army source. "We believe victims were strapped into a chair and then the torture would begin. We think it was more to do with inter-tribal warfare than clamping down on terrorist activity. This is a very corrupt society."

As part of the investigation, two SAS men were ordered to monitor the movements of the Iraqi police officer but the operation was compromised on September 19 when the SAS team became involved in a shoot-out with four plain-clothed police officers just as they were about to withdraw from the surveillance operation.

Fearing that they would be killed, one of the SAS men opened fired as they drove off.

The Iraqi men gave chase and a few hundred yards later the SAS soldiers dumped their car in the belief that they had a better chance on foot.

The SAS men contacted their headquarters and were moving towards an emergency rendezvous point when they were stopped by a uniformed Iraqi police unit that had driven into the area after hearing the shooting.

To try to avoid a shoot-out with the police, the SAS soldiers decided to surrender and each pulled out handkerchief-sized Union flags and began shouting, "British forces, British forces".

The SAS soldiers were arrested and taken to the jail where they were beaten and interrogated.

The source said that the soldiers concocted a cover story and never admitted to being members of the elite special forces unit.

He added that when the soldiers were eventually moved to another house, the mood of their captors changed and that although their hands remained bound together they were treated quite well before being freed in a rescue operation by their colleagues.

The two SAS men were flown back to Hereford, where the unit is based, and were debriefed by senior officers. It is understood that all SAS operations against Iraqi police have since been suspended.

© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

October 16, 2005 at 02:23 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS trainers denounce ‘gung ho’ armed police

SAS trainers denounce ‘gung ho’ armed police - Sunday Times - Times Online

Robert Winnett
TWO senior SAS soldiers who trained many of the firearms teams now serving in Britain’s police forces have warned of their concerns about the officers’ skills and psychological suitability for the job.

The two SAS officers, who have left active service, claim the police they trained had not been subjected to adequate psychological and physical tests to establish whether or not they were suitable to use firearms. The police officers were often “gung ho” and unfit.

The soldiers believe members of the Metropolitan police team that shot dead Jean Charles de Menezes, the innocent Brazilian, on the London Underground in July would have been among those they trained, although they are not certain.

The two men have detailed their concerns in a written statement to The Sunday Times. The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) is expected to study their claims as part of its investigation into how de Menezes, wrongly suspected of being a would-be suicide bomber, came to be shot by a team from the Met’s CO19 firearms unit.

Leaked documents from the IPCC showed that de Menezes was not behaving suspiciously, as had been claimed, but was restrained by an officer before 11 bullets were fired at him at close range. Three missed.

A spokesman for the IPCC said: “If there are concerns being expressed about the wider issues of selection and training, I’m sure our investigation team would look at the evidence and make recommendations.”

The two soldiers describe a number of alarming incidents during police training at the regiment’s base in Hereford. The trainers have no authority to fail police officers they believe are unsuited to the job.

One of the soldiers said: “When the tension starts to rise and the adrenaline is flowing, the ‘red mist’ seems to descend on armed police officers who become very trigger-happy. This has been shown time and again in training exercises.”

The second soldier said: “We thought that police firearms officers were far more concerned with their personal image, dressing in body armour and looking ‘gung ho’, rather than their professional capabilities. I’m not surprised at the number of mistakes over the years.

“There is no assessment of physical fitness, no psychological profiling, nothing. It’s a major problem.”

The statement also describes a police training exercise run by the SAS in which an armed terrorist group was threatening to kill a hostage. The police team were to rescue the hostage using minimum force.

“I was playing the leader of the armed group and instructed the other members of my group to surrender peacefully once the final assault was initiated. Therefore there was no need for the police to open fire.

“But as the police assault group entered the room they began firing at everything. No one had moved; we were all stood with our hands on our heads.

“The response would have resulted in the unnecessary deaths of all the make- believe terrorists and the hostage alike. So much for the rule of minimum force.”

The SAS officers claim they often found police firearms units to be small “cliques” with professional standards below those found in the military. “In the bar after exercises, the police would still be carrying their pistols and have MP5s (machine guns) slung over their shoulder so they could pose for photos. The first question they always asked was whether we had killed anyone.”

They added that many security firms operating in Iraq had a policy of not employing former police firearms officers.

Yesterday the Met defended its officers. Superintendent Phil Manns, head of CO19’s specialist firearms unit, said: “The selection and training criteria for our firearms officers is extremely rigorous. We recruit only the very best and most suitable available within the service. All of the officers within CO19 are regularly trained to the highest of standards.

“I am proud of the professionalism, skill and judgment displayed by my officers. We are called to support unarmed colleagues or respond to emergency calls from the public between 30 and 40 times a day. Incidents where officers feel it necessary to fire are thankfully rare. This alone refutes an allegation that these officers are not suitable for this role.

“The nature of the role done by a member of the SAS and a police officer who carries firearms is incredibly different and should not be compared.”

October 6, 2005 at 11:20 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

The build-up to the crisis in Basra - SAS

Focus: Playing with fire - Sunday Times - Times Online

On Monday two SAS men in Arab clothes and an unmarked car clashed with local Iraqi police in Basra sparking a riot and political crisis. This is how they came to be there

# In July three British soldiers were killed when a bomb struck their patrol vehicle at Amarah close to the Iranian border

# Forensic examination of the device revealed it was a sophisticated bomb designed to penetrate the armoured Land Rover from below. Experts identified it as similar to bombs supplied by Iran to Hezbollah, the militant Islamic group

# Intelligence from MI6 and GCHQ also revealed that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were on the ground in Basra posing as pilgrims on the way to Iraq’s holy shrines and liaising with the militias

# Military commanders decided to send the SAS into Basra to track the routes along which insurgents and bombs were being smuggled in from Iran. Two dozen SAS soldiers were dispatched from “the Station House” in Baghdad to Basra

# The SAS teams conducted an overall review of the area to decide where to focus covert observation posts and close recce patrols. All SAS troopers in the field were in civilian dress, operating undercover

# Each patrol was briefed in detail. At a remote part of their base they rehearsed “actions on”, the precise responses to take in any likely circumstance, including contact with civilian police. They double-checked all equipment, including communications gear and weapons

# SAS patrols both in car and on foot then began a bid to track down and trap the suspected arms smugglers

# On Monday last week, one of these two-man teams left their base by car — a battered Nissan — disguised as locals to gather intelligence and resupply another team

# The car was stopped by a police officer who was shot in leg as the SAS team tried to avoid capture

# The two SAS men sped off but were pursued by Iraqi police. After a chase in which a passerby was killed by a stray bullet, they were captured

September 27, 2005 at 05:22 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Focus: Playing with fire

Focus: Playing with fire - Sunday Times - Times Online

British troops are famed for winning hearts and minds but last week Basra erupted. Ali Rifat, Michael Smith and Richard Woods on an SAS mission that went horribly wrong
Inside Jumhuri general hospital in Basra the stench hits you first, a mix of ancient antiseptic and filth. Then comes the dilapidation: bare furniture, beds propped on concrete blocks, broken equipment.

Among the bloodied and bandaged patients last week was Mustafa Hassan Diwan, a 14-year-old boy hurt in the chaos when two undercover SAS men were seized by Iraqi police — an incident that has revealed the fragility of the British mission in southern Iraq.

“I joined the demonstrators around the (police) station and the British opened fire,” Diwan said. “I was shot.”

He was having difficulty talking because a bullet had hit him close to his ear, smashed his upper jaw, destroyed one eye and exited near his mouth. But his feelings were unmistakeable and his relatives furious.

“What crime has he committed in order for him to have to live without a right eye and with these disfigurements,” said his uncle. “Is it because he is an Iraqi and the British are more powerful that such crimes are okay?”

To him the British were no longer liberators.

Not far away lay another young victim, 13-year-old Raed Kareem, who was also in the vicinity when Iraqi demonstrators clashed with British troops trying to rescue the SAS men.

A bullet, which he blames on the British, hit him in the stomach, ripping through his liver and bowel.

“I was never politically motivated nor belonged to any of the militias or parties,” said Kareem. “But now I pray to Allah to cure me in order for me to take revenge on those detesters of everything Arab and Muslim.”

Money or compensation from the British are not what he wants. “I just want them to leave my country,” he said.

After a week in which Iraqis fire-bombed a Warrior armoured vehicle and British soldiers fled in flames, the mood in Basra remains volatile on all sides.

Many Iraqis are incensed that two SAS troopers, disguised in civilian clothes, shot an Iraqi policeman and, allegedly, a civilian when challenged at a checkpoint. Another nine people died in the ensuing riot, according to the Iraqi judge handling the case, and 14 were injured.

Among British forces morale is suffering in the face of increasing hostility in Iraq and diminishing public support for the war at home. With the referendum on the proposed Iraqi constitution due next month and elections for the first proper government in December, the British find themselves caught between insurgents bent on mayhem and local militias desperate to grab power. Telling friend from foe is far from easy.

Hovering behind it all is the brooding presence of neighbouring Iran, a country of Shi’ite Muslims with links to the Shi’ites who predominate in southern Iraq. Spies, fighters, weapons and money flow across the porous Iran-Iraq border, fuelling the instability.

British officials say Iranian Revolutionary Guards and intelligence officers are active inside Basra, surreptitiously funding both the Badr brigades, blamed for the recent killings of Sunni Muslims in Iraq, and the “Mahdi” army of the firebrand cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Yesterday a former defence minister in the interim Iraqi government claimed Iran’s influence extends even deeper into Iraq. Hazim Shalan, who left the administration in May, claimed that parts of the Iraqi government are now being directed by Iran.

More than 460 Iranian agents had been apprehended in Iraq, he said, adding that many had been released after a visit by the Iranian foreign minister to Baghdad.

Yesterday Shalan — a controversial figure alleged to have been involved in fraud while in government (which he denies) — said: “There are thousands of Iranian officials operating in the south. Elections are being swung by Iranians paying off and intimidating voters. They use Iranian money in Basra now to create trouble. They want Iraq to be a religious state and to ensure long-term political control.”

If the Iranian influence is true, it poses serious problems. Is an independent “Shiastan” in the making in southern Iraq? Will it fuel the likelihood of civil war or the break-up of Iraq?

And what does it portend for the British troops hoping for a way out of the mess as the country gropes through the bloodshed and bombings towards a future?

FOR nearly two months the British in Basra have secretly been fighting the threat from Iran.

“Since the increase in attacks against UK forces two months ago a 24-strong team of SAS soldiers has been working out of Basra to provide a safety net to stop the bombers getting into the city from Iran,” said a source with inside knowledge of the operation last week.

“The aim is to identify routes used by insurgents and either capture or kill them.”

As part of that mission two SAS troopers, dressed in Arab clothes, were driving through Basra in a white Nissan on “close recce patrol” last Monday morning.

“They had been directed to link up and join a second patrol, supplying them with more ‘tools’ and firepower,” said the source. The car was loaded with M4 carbines, a Minimi machinegun, dozens of magazines of ammunition and satellite communications systems.

But the local Iraqis, according to Qutaeb Rasheed Abdul Hameed, a member of the Iraqi police, had no idea who the men in the white Nissan were. So Hameed took a few of his officers to investigate.

“When we got out to check the car, the driver saw us approaching and began firing,” Hameed claimed in an interview with The Sunday Times. “I and my men rushed back to hide behind our car and I felt a flashing burn in my leg and realised I had been hit.”

If this is a true account, why might the SAS have reacted by opening fire without warning? According to one former officer with experience of Iraq, troopers believe the Iraqi police are never to be trusted because their ranks are plagued by militia members and insurgents.

“It is commonly accepted that if you are captured by the Iraqi police there is every chance you will be handed over to the militia — which is akin to a death sentence,” he said. “So the rule of thumb is to avoid being captured at all costs.”

Even the Iraqi chief of police has admitted he cannot trust all of his men.

Special forces commanders also believe that the SAS men had particular reason on this occasion to feel their lives were in danger: they suspected a local worker at their base had tipped off the militia about the patrol.

In the previous week British forces had captured some members of the Mahdi army — and it may have wanted British captives to use as bargaining chips.

Either way, as the Nissan roared off, Hameed called for other units to pursue it. A chase ensued and, according another Iraqi police officer, Khaled Abdul Baqi, one of the occupants of the Nissan continued to fire out of the window. Baqi claims one of the shots killed a passer-by.

As the cars raced along the dusty streets another Iraqi police vehicle converged on the Nissan, forcing it to a halt.

“We asked them to come out of their vehicle,” said Baqi, who said the Iraqis still had no idea who the occupants were. “They refused and kept on repeating ‘no police’, ‘go back’, and ‘we are police’.”

By now about 50 Iraqi police had surrounded the Nissan and the SAS men had no way out. They were dragged from their car, said Baqi, beaten, punched, cuffed and thrown into the back of a pick-up truck.

“Inside the car we found Racal surveillance equipment, two bags with some equipment that resembled a large remote control of sorts and which had screens on them to pinpoint co-ordinates, and machineguns,” said Baqi.

The men were driven to the headquarters of the Internal Affairs Directorate where it was decided to move them on to the Iraqi governor’s headquarters.

But the SAS only undertake such risky “close recce” patrols on the understanding that if they run into difficulty every effort will be made to extract them. A rescue mission was already under way. Before the men could be moved, British forces arrived at the police headquarters demanding their release.

A judge, Ragheb Mohamad Hassan al-Muthafar, arrived and presided over a stand-off. He was shown the captured weapons, told that the arrested men had no identification and informed that Hameed had been shot.

On the other hand, a six-man team of British officers, led by “Major James”, was in the police station trying to negotiate the release of the SAS men. The judge refused.

“I said I couldn’t release them as I had issued an arrest warrant against them and needed to carry out an investigation,” he said, “and that I needed a letter from the British commander about their identities.”

As the arguments dragged on through the afternoon a crowd, including Sadr supporters, gathered outside the station, where British troops and armoured vehicles were standing by. According to Baqi, a Sadr representative arrived and demanded that the British captives not be released as the militia might want to exchange them for their own officials held by the British.

The judge refused to get involved but it didn’t take long for tempers to flare in the crowd outside. Stones were thrown. Shots fired. Suddenly petrol bombs were landing on one of the Warrior armoured vehicles.

“The top cover and hatches were open (because the driver’s optical sights had been smashed), and one of the petrol bombs came in over me and my gunner,” said Sergeant George Long. “I had to get out because I was in flames. So we got out over the back and luckily someone put me out.”

Another soldier, Second Lieutenant John Cliffe, described his Warrior being “hammered by petrol bombs and burning tyres”.

“There was burning fuel seeping through my turret onto my gunner and me,” he said. “The vehicle was stalled and the radio jammed.” He clambered out onto the vehicle and, kicking at the crowd below, leapt off and escaped.

In the melee and shooting, people were dying. The father of a 17-year-old who was hit told The Sunday Times: “My son could not bear the sight of demonstrators being shot by the British armoured car. So he ran towards it and climbed over it and opened the hatch and threw a Molotov bomb to stop the soldiers from firing randomly.

“When he saw it burning he began dancing on the top with joy, but seconds later the soldier came out. My son grabbed him and tried to pull the soldier to take him to the group of people he had been shooting at, but fate had it otherwise.

“A bullet from another soldier penetrated my son from the back and came out of his abdomen, killing him and giving him the honour of martyrdom. My son is not dead — he is a martyr in heaven who has brought pride to our tribe.”

As violence filled the streets members of the Mahdi army arrived at the police station and demanded that the police hand over the captured SAS men to them. Brigadier John Lorimer, commander of the British brigade in Basra, faced a life and death decision.

Lorimer knew from aerial surveillance that suspected Mahdi figures had entered the police station; that the crowd might riot again; that the six-man negotiating team was at risk as well as the SAS men.

He ordered the British forces to go in hard. A Warrior smashed through the compound wall and and a rescue team of SAS bolstered by infantry burst into the police station, seizing weapons and overpowering the Iraqis.

The Mahdi army, however, had already bundled the SAS men into the boots of two cars and smuggled them out to a nearby house. They swiftly moved on to another house — partly because some Mahdi started firing guns in the air in celebration at having two SAS men at their mercy — and finally to a house in the al- Hayaniya district.

The British, though, were close behind and the Mahdi fled when they saw they were about to be surrounded. When the rescuers blew the door of the house, the two SAS men were found inside alone.

Though the men have been rescued, the incident still festers. The judge has issued an arrest warrant for the two SAS men, though the British say it has no legal force and the men may no longer be in Iraq. The Iraqis are also seeking compensation for the people killed and property destroyed.

More worryingly, Basra city council has voted to suspend co-operation with the British, though many see that as posturing ahead of the nationwide elections in December. Such apparent rejection by the people they are supposed to be helping towards democracy is hardly good for the morale of British soldiers.

The pressures of repeated tours of duty and the legal restraints imposed on soldiers who face daily threats to their lives are also taking their toll.

One soldier, who served with a frontline infantry regiment and asked not be named, was blunt: “Morale is through the floor; many lads in Iraq just count the days until they are back in the UK and then they leave.”

FOR the overall British presence in Iraq, though, no easy end is in sight and no date set for withdrawal. “Who can tell?” retorted one senior officer when asked last week how long British troops might have to stay.

Tony Blair hopes the elections will lead to better security, allowing the Iraqis to take over from British forces. To some outside observers, however, Iraq is heading towards disintegration, not stability.

In an unusually frank warning last week Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, said: “There is no dynamic now pulling the nation together. All the dynamics are pulling the country apart.”

Saudi Arabia, which sees itself as protector of Sunni Muslim interests, is concerned at the prospect of Shi’ite Iran extending its influence into oil-rich southern Iraq.

Gareth Stansfield, an expert in Middle East politics at the Royal Institute of International Affairs and Exeter University, believes the Iranians are already the real winners from the Iraq war.

“Iraq has been delivered to Iran on a plate by the coalition,” he said. “It sits there as a powerful neighbour, with very complex and strong links in the south . . . and politically with the Kurds in the north.

“I would go so far as to say that the pre-eminent foreign force in Iraq is not the US, it is Iran. It has succeeded in its geopolitical aim — Iraq will never threaten them again — and it has tied up the US in a swamp of insurgencies.”

The same message will be pushed hard by Shalan, the former Iraqi defence minister, when he tours British and American television studios this week.

Meanwhile, Iran is pressing ahead with its nuclear ambitions. The European Union and America are accusing Iran of attempting to develop nuclear weapons; Iran claims it wants to develop a domestic nuclear energy industry. Negotiations on a solution are deadlocked.

Last week President George W Bush expressed optimism that progress is being made in Iraq, with the schedule for the elections for a permanent government on track. But those elections may not prevent the country effectively dividing into Sunni, Shi’ite and Kurdish autonomous regions.

That, warned Saud, could bring other countries, such as Iran and Turkey, into the conflict. “This is a very dangerous situation,” he said. “A very threatening situation.”

THE BUILD-UP TO THE CRISIS

On Monday two SAS men in Arab clothes and an unmarked car clashed with local Iraqi police in Basra sparking a riot and political crisis. This is how they came to be there

# In July three British soldiers were killed when a bomb struck their patrol vehicle at Amarah close to the Iranian border

# Forensic examination of the device revealed it was a sophisticated bomb designed to penetrate the armoured Land Rover from below. Experts identified it as similar to bombs supplied by Iran to Hezbollah, the militant Islamic group

# Intelligence from MI6 and GCHQ also revealed that Iranian Revolutionary Guards were on the ground in Basra posing as pilgrims on the way to Iraq’s holy shrines and liaising with the militias

# Military commanders decided to send the SAS into Basra to track the routes along which insurgents and bombs were being smuggled in from Iran. Two dozen SAS soldiers were dispatched from “the Station House” in Baghdad to Basra

# The SAS teams conducted an overall review of the area to decide where to focus covert observation posts and close recce patrols. All SAS troopers in the field were in civilian dress, operating undercover

# Each patrol was briefed in detail. At a remote part of their base they rehearsed “actions on”, the precise responses to take in any likely circumstance, including contact with civilian police. They double-checked all equipment, including communications gear and weapons

# SAS patrols both in car and on foot then began a bid to track down and trap the suspected arms smugglers

# On Monday last week, one of these two-man teams left their base by car — a battered Nissan — disguised as locals to gather intelligence and resupply another team

# The car was stopped by a police officer who was shot in leg as the SAS team tried to avoid capture

# The two SAS men sped off but were pursued by Iraqi police. After a chase in which a passerby was killed by a stray bullet, they were captured

September 27, 2005 at 05:10 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Farmers ambush SAS training in anger at hunting ban

Telegraph | Expat | Farmers ambush SAS training in anger at hunting ban

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 25/09/2005)

The Special Air Service's gruelling selection course has been thrown into chaos by farmers who have refused the elite troops permission to train on their land in protest over the Government's hunting ban.

The move in the Elan Valley area of mid-Wales and in parts of the Brecon Beacons in South Wales is one of the most damaging revolts by landowners since the ban was introduced in February.

Senior SAS officers had considered the unprecedented step of postponing one of the regiment's two annual six-month long selection courses, but that was ruled out by a severe manpower shortage within the unit.

The SAS - which comprises around 500 troops - has been severely depleted over the past two years after dozens of soldiers left for lucrative jobs as security advisers in Iraq.

The Ministry of Defence had hoped to avoid a clash, but talks earlier this year with the Welsh National Farmers' Union failed to come to any agreement.

Last night a senior defence official described the ban as "irritating, irresponsible and frustrating".

He said: "The ban was the last thing the SAS needed. Like many busy Army units it is under-strength and over-committed and is desperate for new recruits.

"But they have to be selected and carefully trained. Suitable training areas can not simply be acquired at the drop of a hat."

The Hereford-based regiment holds two selection courses a year to which anyone under the age of 32 - although that limit is flexible - can apply.

The summer and winter courses attract up to 150 candidates, although historically only 10 per cent of those volunteering to serve with the regiment are accepted.

Each course begins with an endurance phase, lasting three weeks in the Brecon Beacons. This phase is essentially a test of physical stamina and volunteers have to complete a series of marches carrying loads of up to 50lb and a rifle.

One of the toughest tests is known as the Long Drag, when soldiers have to complete a 40-mile march in 24 hours.

After finishing the endurance phase, the soldiers move on to jungle training in Brunei. This lasts six weeks and they need to demonstrate that they have the mental and physical capability to carry out military operations in the jungle.

Those who pass move on to the escape and evasion section of the course, which also involves the dreaded tactical questioning, when soldiers are questioned as if they are a captured prisoner of war.

It is understood that it is the escape and evasion phase that was worst hit by protesting farmers.

The SAS has been carrying out escape and evasion within the Elan Valley for more than 20 years. It is regarded as an ideal training area because of the harshness of the terrain.

During this section, potential SAS troopers have to escape from a hunter force of soldiers who are under orders to capture them.

The exercise usually lasts three days, at the end of which most of the soldiers have been captured by the hunter force.

Those who pass this phase are allowed to join the regiment.

A spokesman for the MoD refused to comment on SAS selection but did confirm that much of the military training on private land in many areas of Wales had been cancelled because of action by landowners who were in dispute with the Government over the hunting ban.

"Some landowners in Wales, including those in the Elan Valley, have refused to allow training exercises to take place on their land," he said. "In most cases we have been able to make other arrangements."

Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2005.

September 26, 2005 at 10:58 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

'We thought they were going to cut our heads off'

Telegraph | News | 'We thought they were going to cut our heads off'

By Sean Rayment, Colin Freeman and Toby Harnden
(Filed: 25/09/2005)

The SAS men arrested by Iraqi police last week feared they would be beheaded in a video-taped murder.

Rescued: ‘Their SAS colleagues did not expect to find them alive’

The troopers, now being debriefed at the regiment's Hereford HQ, "had visions of their throats being cut" when they were bundled from a Basra police station to the home of an al Mehdi army militant from where they were rescued.

Ministry of Defence officials say the men are traumatised by their experience, despite being trained to cope with interrogation and torture.

"The emotional impact of what happened has been quite devastating," one said. "Their SAS colleagues did not expect to find them alive."

The disclosure that the soldiers feared the same fate as the hostage Kenneth Bigley came as Iraqi policemen involved in their initial arrest gave detailed accounts of Monday's events.

Their version differs in key respects from the bellicose statements from the authorities in Basra, who on Thursday said they would suspend co-operation until the soldiers were handed back. Yesterday, an Iraqi judge also issued an arrest warrant for the men. Contrary to local officials who claimed that the soldiers shot one policeman dead and wounded another, the police said that just one officer received a light wound. If confirmed, that will come as a relief to the SAS men who face an Army inquiry.

The officers also told The Sunday Telegraph that the soldiers' treatment in the police station - where they were severely beaten before being paraded in front of local media - was orchestrated by a police captain with links to the al Mehdi army.

The militiamen, loyal to the outlawed Shia cleric Muqtadr al Sadr, fought British forces in Basra last year and are thought to be renewing their campaign of violence.

The SAS men were allegedly handed over by the captain to use as bargaining chips for the release of Sheikh Ahmed al-Fartusi. He was arrested last weekend on suspicion of commanding a terrorist group in receipt of funding from Iran.

Much remains unclear, however, about events leading up to the soldiers' capture. They are thought to have been part of a team assigned to gather intelligence on a notoriously corrupt police unit suspected of kidnap, torture and murder.

Their operation is believed to have focused on the al Jamiyat police station, a sprawling two-storey complex that houses Basra police's major crimes unit. British officers once nicknamed it Gestapo HQ because of suspicions that officers were involved in the death of detainees.

The police unit which operated there previously was disbanded by the coalition because of such concerns, and a new unit was put in place. Even now, the building is regarded as "off limits" to British forces. According to Capt Ahmed al Shimari, who was on duty on Monday, the soldiers' behaviour gave them away even though they were in Arab garb. "A local came to us saying that he had seen two people in a car taking photos," he said. "He said they had strange faces, not like the local people."

Three officers, Fadil Hadi, Allah al Bazuni, and Qutayba Sa'ami, ran towards the car, and Mr Hadi fired two warning shots at its engine. The soldiers returned fire with a pistol, hitting Mr Sa'ami in the leg before running off.

They were caught at a checkpoint and hauled back to the police station where Capt Yasser al Bahadli, a known al Mehdi army sympathiser, was in command. Fellow officers said he immediately saw the potential of the arrests.

As an angry crowd gathered outside, he put out word that two "Israelis" working for the British Army had been arrested - an explosive claim that would have ensured the soldiers' death had the mob reached them.

Capt Yasser is also believed to be the man who invited local media to come to photograph the pair. "They looked very scared and completely crushed, as if 100 men had beaten them," said one photographer. "They were both wearing handcuffs and one of them was still bleeding from the back, where there was a mass of blood. He was only half conscious. I asked the police, 'Why don't you treat him?' They said: 'Finish your photos first' ."

By now the crowd outside was hurling petrol bombs and stones at British soldiers who had turned up to demand the troopers' release. In scenes flashed around the world, the crew of a Warrior armoured vehicle were seen leaping from the machine in flames.

Unknown to the Britons, however, a separate delegation led by the local al Mehdi army commander Hisham Aliawi was demanding that the SAS men be handed over to them. "At around 7.30pm about 15 al Mehdi soldiers came inside and went into Capt Yasser's office," said one officer. "When they left, they took the soldiers with them back to Mr Aliawi's house 200 metres away."

Suspicions that the soldiers had been removed reached the British negotiating team, who faced a dilemma. While local commanders wanted to continue the "diplomatic" approach, the SAS demanded to know why the Army had not intervened to free the troopers.

At about 9pm, the officer said, the British turned up with Gen Hassan al-Sade, the commander of police in Basra and one of the few who has declared himself independent of the militias. The officer said: "He asked the captain: 'Where are the two British soldiers?' The captain said: 'I am sorry, the al Mehdi army took them. We couldn't stop them.' That was a lie and the head of police knew it. He got very angry and said: 'I know you delivered those soldiers to them yourself' ."

It was shortly after that heated exchange that SAS troops stormed Mr Aliawi's villa and freed their comrades.

Since then Capt Yasser has not been seen by his colleagues. However, accounts of his alleged collusion with the al Mehdi army were corroborated by several other officers. Their stories confirm fears that much of Basra's 13,500 police force is in the grip of the militias.

Officially, the British Army admits only that the militias' influence is confined to a few "rogue" elements, but privately some commanders acknowledge that it is widespread.

"The statement that just a few of the police are members of militias is laughable," said one British officer. "It would be more accurate to say a few of the police are not in militias."

Like most other police stations in Basra, the walls of al Jamiyat are festooned with posters proclaiming fealty to different Shia militia leaders. Staring down at anyone who enters the police station are pictures of Sadr, and of Abdul Aziz Hakim, the head of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, which controls the rival Badr Brigade militia.

Another British officer said: "There are some good policemen here, but if senior officers have no control over the lower ones, then the chain of command breaks down very quickly.

"The best thing would be to bin the Iraqi police service and start again. But we can't do that because it was a decision taken two years ago and, politically, it can't be admitted that it was messed up."

September 25, 2005 at 08:50 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS in secret war against Iranian agents

SAS in secret war against Iranian agents - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Michael Smith and Ali Rifat, Basra
TWO SAS soldiers rescued last week after being arrested by Iraqi police and handed over to a militia were engaged in a “secret war” against insurgents bringing sophisticated bombs into the country from Iran.

The men had left their base near the southern Iraqi city of Basra to carry out reconnaissance and supply a second patrol with “more tools and fire power”, said a source with knowledge of their activities.

They had been in Basra for seven weeks on an operation prompted by intelligence that a new type of roadside bomb which has been used against British troops was among weapons being smuggled over the Iranian border.

The bombs, designed to pierce the armour beneath coalition vehicles, are similar to ones supplied by Iran to Hezbollah, the Islamic militant group.

“Since the increase in attacks against UK forces two months ago, a 24-strong SAS team has been working out of Basra to provide a safety net to stop the bombers getting into the city from Iran,” said one source. “The aim is to identify routes used by insurgents and either capture or kill them.”

The forces have tried to seal the notoriously porous border using high-technology sensors that monitor movement by night. They report to a major based in Baghdad in an unmarked building known as the “station house”.

Special forces commanders believe that a tip-off from a local worker at their base may have led to the men’s capture last Monday after a car chase by police, who later handed them to the Mahdi army of Moqtada al-Sadr, the maverick Shi’ite cleric. They were freed from a nearby house.

The disclosure that the SAS has targeted the Iranian border coincides with claims by a former Iraqi defence minister that parts of Iraq have fallen under Tehran’s control.

Hazim Shalan, who left office last May amid a scandal over huge sums of missing money, claimed that 460 Iranian agents had been apprehended in the past two years. He accused Iranian officials of bringing weapons and drugs into Iraq and of paying voters to back their chosen candidates.

An inquiry into the capture of the SAS team and clashes that followed between British forces and an Iraqi mob was being carried out by the Royal Military Police Special Investigation Branch.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said this would focus on how the soldiers had been compromised but it was also expected to address claims that they had shot an Iraqi police officer.

The officer, Quteeb Rasheed Abdul Hameed, alleged that he had been wounded in the leg when the soldiers opened fire as police approached their unmarked car to question them.

A judge said yesterday that he had issued warrants for the arrest of the SAS men over the shooting and the alleged killing of a second man shot in the car chase. Judge Ragheb Mohamad Hassan al-Muthafar told The Sunday Times in an exclusive interview that the soldiers were “suspects who attempted to commit a wilful act of murder”.

He added: “Whatever their mission they have no right to fire intentionally on anyone, let alone a security man whose job is to protect this country.”

According to the judge, nine people were killed and 14 injured, including two boys aged 13 and 14, when the mob attacked British forces surrounding the police station where the men were detained.

The MoD declined to comment on the toll but said the warrants had no legal basis. “All British troops in Iraq come under the jurisdiction of Britain,” a spokesman said.

September 25, 2005 at 08:27 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Shia militia fires up anti-British hatred after SAS rescue

Telegraph | News | Shia militia fires up anti-British hatred after SAS rescue

By Adrian Blomfield in Baghdad
(Filed: 23/09/2005)

The Shia militia accused of taking two SAS soldiers hostage in Basra this week sought to stoke growing anti-British sentiment in southern Iraq yesterday by accusing London of masterminding terrorist attacks in the country.

The smear campaign is another blow to the British Army's hopes of restoring its affection among locals and its previously good relationship with Basra's administration - two factors that have distinguished the British-controlled south from Iraq's chaotic Sunni Arab provinces.

Relations with Iraqi authorities in the country's second city sank to their lowest level after Basra's governing council announced it was ending all co-operation with British forces in response to Monday's rescue of the two soldiers.

Basra's governor, Mohammed al-Wa'eli, accused Britain of "imperial arrogance".

He told Reuters news agency: "The governing council has decided to stop all co-operation with the British until they meet three demands. To apologise for what happened, to guarantee that it does not happen again, and third, to provide some compensation for all the damage they did during the operation."

British diplomats expressed hope that a compromise could be found, saying the conditions were "not insurmountable".

A British embassy spokesman in Basra said: "We've had two and a half years of fantastic relations. The conditions they have laid out shouldn't be a problem.

''We regret the disturbances to the people of Basra but the situation demanded the response. British lives were in danger, civil authority had broken down and there was a serious danger they had been handed over to Shia militia."

Iraq factfile

British Warrior armoured vehicles punched holes in the wall of a police station where the two men were initially held and then destroyed a building belonging to the Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi army where they were later transferred. Senior aides of Sadr, who twice led bloody uprisings against American forces in the south last year, sought to capitalise on a rumour that has gained widespread acceptance in Basra that the two men were Israeli spies caught trying to plant bombs.

Abdel Hadi al-Daraji, the cleric's top official in his main bastion, the sprawling Sadr City slums of Baghdad, told The Daily Telegraph that Britain was plotting to start an ethnic war by carrying out mass-casualty bombings targeting Shia civilians and then blaming the attacks on Sunni Arab groups.

"Everyone knows the occupiers' agenda," insisted Mr Daraji, who is currently the only Mahdi army official authorised to speak directly on Sadr's behalf.

"They are in bed with Mossad [the Israeli intelligence service] and their intention is to keep Iraq an unstable battlefield so they can exploit their interests in Iraq." But Mr Daraji insisted that Sadr was not going to call for a Shia uprising in Basra, where he enjoys only a limited, if growing, following in the city's slums.

"We have to take the moral high ground and resist this provocation by the British," he said. "This is a very dangerous, very sensitive time in Iraq but we must calm our supporters or we will fall into the British trap."

Sadr has been keen to cultivate a degree of legitimacy since he agreed to join the political process last year. But he has recently come out in opposition to a new constitution and some western diplomats say he is again trying to stir up his followers.

"He is basically trying to keep them just under boiling point so that, if he chooses the road of violence, they will jump when he gives the command," a diplomat in Baghdad said.

Sadr yesterday sent an envoy, Mudhafar al-Moussawi, to the south, ostensibly with orders to calm his supporters. But the envoy's message, delivered on radio broadcasts, was far from calming. He described this week's incidents in Basra as "a second Abu Ghraib". He also called on the British people to rise up and "overthrow the terrorist government of Tony Blair''. In many ways, Sadr does not need to start an uprising in Basra. He already enjoys a disproportionate degree of influence on both the police force and the city's administration.

The Jameat police station where the two soldiers were originally held is under the control of the internal affairs and serious crimes unit, the most influential department in Basra's police force - and the most heavily penetrated by the Mahdi army.

Sadr will also be convinced that the withdrawal of co-operation from the Basra administration will effectively corral British troops in barracks, solidifying the Mahdi army's control of the city.

Although British soldiers have maintained a much lower profile in Basra since Monday, joint patrols with the police have not been entirely suspended.

September 24, 2005 at 01:34 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Enduring tribute to the Commando

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland.cfm?id=1985442005
EBEN HARRELL

SCOTLAND's role in Commando training during the Second World War is to be marked by an extraordinary feat of endurance by a serving Royal Marine.

Sixty years after the last recruits marched up the hills around Achnacarry Commando training station near Fort William, Sergeant Billy Rodgers will recreate their feats in authentic 1940s dress.
route

Sgt Rodgers, 34, will don a 36-pound pack, and make the legendary seven-mile speed march from nearby Spean Bridge station to Achnacarry, the route unsuspecting Commando recruits were ordered to take during the Second World War.

Then he will run up Ben Nevis and spend the next two weeks cycling to the present-day Commando Training Centre at Lympstone in Devon, stopping to run to the highest peaks in England and Wales along the way. The expedition is being undertaken to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the closing of the Achnacarry training station.

"Before I joined the Marines, I worked as a slater on roofs. But I was always into my hill running, that's why I joined. I wanted to test myself. This is the hardest task I've set myself," he said.

In military lore, the Achnacarry training centre was the spiritual centre of Commandos. Allied recruits from across Europe were dropped off seven miles from the centre and given 70 minutes to lug their packs across uneven terrain to the base. Those who did not make it in time were turned away. The training site closed in 1945 when Commando operations moved to the centre in Devon.

Sgt Rodgers' expedition will raise money for the Royal Marines Benevolent Trust - the organisation that cares for ageing Marines, some of whom were trained at Achnacarry. It will also raise money for the Meningitis Trust.

Major Jonathan Dowd said: "Even by Royal Marine standards this is a challenging event."

September 24, 2005 at 11:10 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS stormed prison to save soldiers from execution

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1790386,00.html
By Philip Webster, Political Editor

BRITISH troops stormed an Iraqi police compound in Basra because they feared that two captured SAS soldiers were in danger of being summarily executed by Shia militiamen.

“The intelligence we had received left us in no doubt these men were going to be killed,” one senior military source told The Times yesterday.

Monday’s events caused deep concern within the Government yesterday. John Reid, the Defence Secretary, raised the prospect that Iraqi police seized the two special forces soldiers in collusion with the Mahdi Army, a banned militia loyal to the Shia firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr. The behaviour of the Iraqi police was worrying and not yet understood, he said.

Fears that hardline Islamic militia are tightening their grip on southern Iraq, with the connivance of Iraqi police, put Tony Blair under pressure to outline an exit strategy for the 8,500 British forces in Iraq.

Michael Howard, the Tory leader, said that the Government needed to set out an honest account of the difficulties it faced in Iraq. “If the Iraqi police are not doing their job properly and if, as appears to have been the case yesterday, they are colluding with extremist militants against British soldiers, that is a cause for very deep concern,” he told the BBC.

“If, as has been suggested, the Iraqi police has been systematically infiltrated in this way, then we need, perhaps, to set about building a different kind of police force.”

Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, said that the events in Basra confirmed his fears that Iraq was drifting towards civil war. He said: “The most worrying thing of all is if we are now seeing a breakdown in communication, trust and co-operation between the British forces, who have done a heroic job there under the most dreadful of circumstances, and aspects at least of the Iraqi domestic security forces.”

The developments in Basra were discussed at a meeting of the Cabinet, which reaffirmed the existing strategy that the British presence can be run down only when Iraqi security forces believe they have sufficient control. But Mr Blair’s hopes that he could use next week’s Labour Party conference to direct attention back to the domestic agenda look set to be thwarted yet again.

The two undercover soldiers were apparently captured and taken to the police station after exchanging fire with Iraqi police. An angry mob attacked a British unit sent to rescue them, setting fire to two Warrior armoured fighting vehicles. Late on Monday a much bigger force stormed the station and grabbed the soldiers from a neighbouring villa.

The British action angered the Iraqi authorities. Muhammad al-Waili, the Governor of Basra province, called it barbaric, savage and irresponsible. A spokesman for Ibrahim al-Jaafari, the Iraqi Prime Minister, called it a “very unfortunate development”.

Iraqi television fuelled that anger by broadcasting pictures of the two soldiers inside the station as the police inspected wigs, Arab headdresses, an anti-tank missile and communications equipment allegedly seized from the soldiers’ car.

September 21, 2005 at 10:07 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS rescue

graphic

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,7374-1790311,00.html

September 21, 2005 at 05:58 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Troops free SAS men from jail

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2005/09/20/wirq20.xml
By Adrian Blomfield in Baghdad and Thomas Harding
(Filed: 20/09/2005)

Two SAS soldiers were freed from a jail in Basra under the watch of British armoured vehicles last night a few hours after they were seized by Iraqis during the worst riots in Iraq's second city in two years.

The two freed SAS troopers had been arrested in Basra while patrolling under-cover in Arab clothes

They had been wearing Arab clothes when they were arrested in the southern city by a Shia militia loyal to the Iraqi government.

The militia accused them of shooting at policemen who approached them. After hours of intense negotiations to secure their release, British forces arrived at the central jail last night.

Iraqi government officials and the governor of Basra claimed that Warrior armoured vehicles had stormed the jail, destroying a wall. Scores of Iraqi prisoners escaped with the two soldiers, they said.

But the Ministry of Defence denied reports that Warriors had broken in. It said that a Warrior being used to collect the men "might" have accidentally knocked into a wall as it reversed in the dark.

''We would never orchestrate or authorise a jail break as is being reported,'' said a spokesman. The British embassy in Baghdad said three people had been injured as the men were released.

Mobs angry over the alleged attack on the police set fire to a Warrior, forcing its gunner to leap from the turret.

Three soldiers suffered burns and other injuries and the vehicle was badly damaged by a hail of petrol bombs.
British soldier escapes burning Warrior
The soldiers who escaped from the burning Warrior were said to be in a stable condition in hospital

Troops and vehicles then surrounded Basra's jail, where the SAS men were being held.

There were chants of "Murderers out" as an armoured vehicle manoeuvred into position near a perimeter wall. Rioters, many of them children, then attacked it.

Television footage showed the Warrior engulfed in flames. The turret hatch opened and a soldier, his clothes and helmet on fire, scrambled out under a hail of missiles.

He and the other injured soldiers, believed to be members of the Coldstream Guards, were treated at the military hospital in Shaibah logistics base. Their condition was stable last night.

Witnesses said the Warrior was towed away after troops fired in the air to disperse the rioters. The interior ministry said that at least two protesters were shot dead.

Photographs of the captured SAS troopers showed them with blood-spattered clothing and one with his head heavily bandaged. The MoD asked newspapers to blank out their faces to prevent identification.

Iraq factfile

The confusion reflected the level to which relations between local authorities and the British military have sunk and the setback to Tony Blair's plans to pull out some troops in the spring.

The SAS men are thought to have been on a close observation patrol when they were stopped at a checkpoint. They apparently identified themselves but shots were fired when the police tried to arrest them.

“A policeman approached them, then one of these guys fired at him,” said a Basra official, Mohammed al-Abadi. “The police managed to capture them but they refused to say what their mission was and suggested that we ask their commander.”

This summer, soldiers were able to patrol the city in relative safety. But security has deteriorated so badly that the Army has switched from lightly armed Land Rovers to the tank-like Warriors.

Although British troops and Iraqi security forces supposedly work together, in Basra the relationship has soured. Soldiers have been told not to stop if challenged while working under-cover, as insurgents often masquerade as police officers.

Despite the violence on the streets, many Iraqis in Basra said they supported the British military presence. One, Haider Samad, said: “Locals are angry with what is happening today.”

The reason for the sudden upsurge in violence is a matter of debate. The Shias are in the ascendancy in Iraq and stand to gain politically if the new constitution is accepted in a referendum in mid-October. Intelligence sources have suggested that this could be the start of a concerted campaign to oust the American-led coalition.

The clashes followed a weekend of unrest after troops arrested six members of the Mahdi army, the militia loyal to the rebel Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Those held included Sheik Ahmad Majid al-Fartusi, the Basra commander of the group, and his aide, Sajjat al-Basri.

On Sunday the Mahdi army said it would retaliate on Monday if its leaders were not freed. The rioting suggested that it had carried out its threat.

September 20, 2005 at 08:50 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Johnny Wiseman

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=60218
Johnny Wiseman
(Filed: 17/09/2005)

Johnny Wiseman, who has died aged 89, was awarded an MC in 1943 for leading an SAS assault on a coastal battery during the invasion of Sicily.

In the early hours of July 10 1943, the Special Raiding Squadron (formed after the temporary disbandment of 1SAS), left their troopship and embarked in landing craft in heavy seas. Wiseman, in command of the forward section of the leading troop, ordered the pilot of his LCA to stop and pick up a group of men who were clinging to the wing of their ditched glider.

One of them was the commander of the airborne force who, like many others, had been dropped short of the target by inexperienced pilots. "Look, old boy," Wiseman told him firmly, "I can take you into the beach, but you will have to keep out of my line because I have a job to do."

After landing on Cape Moro di Porco, Wiseman led his men up the cliffs while mortars provided covering fire. He reached the perimeter of the enemy position without being detected and cut through the wire. As soon as the mortar fire was lifted, he and his section attacked.

Wiseman achieved complete surprise and his small force captured, killed or wounded 40 of the enemy without sustaining a single casualty. Wiseman's CO, Paddy Mayne, then got him on the wireless to order him to remove his men from the battery because sappers were coming to destroy the guns. Wiseman mumbled, and Mayne had to tell him to speak up.

"I managed to tell him that I had lost my false teeth," said Wiseman. "It was amusing afterwards, but it didn't seem so at the time." He had been hit in the mouth playing cricket at Cambridge and had worn false teeth ever since. He had been shouting orders when they flew out of his mouth into the long grass.

Despite this mishap, he was awarded an immediate MC.

John Martin Wiseman was born on January 27 1916 at Kingston-on-Thames, Surrey, and educated at St Paul's before going up to Pembroke, Cambridge, to read History and Modern Languages. He went into the family optical instrument business in 1937.

The company had been founded by his father, Max, who arrived from Germany in the 1920s and started selling spectacle frames. In 1926 he began to build up a group of purpose-built factories.

On the outbreak of the Second World War, Wiseman joined the North Somerset Yeomanry as a trooper and saw action in Syria against the Vichy French. He was fluent in French and German and was selected for Octu in Cairo.

Shortly after his commission, he heard that David Stirling was expanding his detachment to a full regiment and went to meet him. Stirling's batman answered the door of the flat in Cairo. His master was in the bath, he said, and could not see anyone. Wiseman persisted, and Stirling, who valued people who were not easily discouraged, agreed to take him on.

For the next months, Wiseman and his men, mounted in three Jeeps, operated in the Great Sand Sea, mining the coastal road and strafing enemy vehicles when they were forced to halt. Then they slipped back into the desert.

Following the taking of Sicily and shortly after the capture of Termoli on the Italian mainland, the Germans counter-attacked. Wiseman had just left his truck to talk to a messenger from his CO when the vehicle received a direct hit from a shell. His whole troop was killed or injured. It was, he said afterwards, the worst moment of his life.

Wiseman returned to England to train for the invasion of France. He was promoted captain and placed in command of 1 Troop "A" Squadron, and in June 1944 they were dropped into France in Operation Houndsworth.

Operating from near Dijon, the most exposed of the Houndsworth bases, Wiseman's objective was to help prevent the Germans from reinforcing their units in Normandy from the south. His troop blew up the Dijon-Beaune railway line three times, the Beaune-Paris line once and derailed two trains.

In August, Wiseman got wind of a joint assault on his hideout by the Germans and the Milice. He rapidly evacuated his troop and, when the pincer attack was launched, the two parties opened fire on each other, inflicting numerous casualties.

He was awarded the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star.

The following month, Wiseman brought his troop back to England. He was exhausted, and Paddy Mayne put him in charge of SAS HQ while the rest of "A" Squadron went to Norway.

Wiseman and Mayne did not always see eye to eye. Wiseman said afterwards that Mayne, one of the most highly decorated soldiers in the war, was a great warrior but a difficult man to serve under. A man of considerable physical strength, on one occasion Mayne wrestled Wiseman to the ground, pinned him there with his knees and called for a cut-throat razor. He then shaved half of Wiseman's beard without using soap or water.

At the end of the war in Europe, Wiseman retired from the Army in the rank of major and returned to his family business. He was a director of what became a large-scale manufacturing organisation with affiliated companies overseas until he retired in 1982.

Wiseman lived in London for a time, and then moved to Sussex. He led an active life in the country and greatly enjoyed racing.

Johnny Wiseman died on August 23. He married first, in 1944, Jill Sinauer. He married secondly, in 1994, Eileen Finch (née Gill) who survives him with a step-son and a step-daughter.

September 19, 2005 at 10:11 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Major 'Jim' Almonds August 6, 1914 - August 20, 2005

Major 'Jim' Almonds - Obituaries - Times Online

Founder member of the SAS who blew up enemy aircraft in North Africa and sabotaged supply lines after D-Day

AS A sergeant with a troop of No 8 Commando in besieged Tobruk in 1941 “Gentleman Jim” Almonds was recruited by David Stirling with three companions to join “L” Detachment of the Special Air Service Brigade. Thus they became part of that elite group “the originals” of the SAS, as the brigade to which they supposedly belonged existed on paper only — a phantom to deceive Rommel about the 8th Army’s strength. L Detachment was to experiment with a new form of attack on his airfields and lines of communication — from the rear.

Stirling’s first operation against enemy airfields, by parachute, was a total failure, chiefly because atrocious weather resulted in the would-be saboteurs being dropped wide of their targets. Almonds did not take part as he was ordered by Stirling to remain at Kabrit, the SAS base near the Suez Canal, to complete construction of the parachute training towers. But when Stirling met the Long Range Desert Group on the way back from the failed operation he became convinced that parachuting into the desert was an inaccurate procedure and wasteful of his precious resources. He therefore joined up with the LRDG at Jalo, off the northwestern tip of the desert’s Great Sand Sea, for his next operation.

Almonds was accompanied by Captain Jock Lewes, formerly his troop leader in No 8 Commando, on the first operation the SAS undertook with the LRDG. The aim was to attack the enemy airfield at El Agheila, some 200 miles from Jalo on the Mediterranean coast. They found the airfield deserted but blew up a concentration of enemy ammunition vehicles at Mersa Brega, further west.

On Christmas Day 1941, Almonds again accompanied Lewes, this time in an attack on Nofilia airfield on the border between Libya and Tripolitania. The Luftwaffe foiled them again by flying all but two of a squadron of Ju87 Stukas off the strip before dark. The two Stukas were destroyed, but Lewes was killed in an enemy air attack as they set out for Jalo. Four of their five vehicles were burnt out and the fifth damaged.

Almonds took command, picked up two LRDG survivors who had become separated and set out for Jalo in the remaining truck. They covered most of the 200 miles by night, aided by a good moon and the vehicle headlights when negotiating the innumerable gullies. After an exhausting 48-hour drive they reached Jalo on New Year’s Day 1942.

Almonds received an immediate Military Medal for his part in the raid on Nofilia airfield and for his resourcefulness in getting his group of survivors back to Jalo. The citation had “Not to be published” scrawled across it to preserve the secrecy of the SAS operations. It was undated but the note “missing” below Almonds’s name indicates that Stirling submitted it after the subsequent successful attack on Sidi Haneish and the failed operation against Benghazi harbour.

In the Sidi Haneish raid 40 Ju52 transport aircraft were destroyed on the ground at the cost of only one SAS man killed, and the loss of two Jeeps.

In September Almonds was captured on the outskirts of Benghazi when his Jeep was hit in the petrol tank and burnt out at a roadblock on the approach to the town. As Rommel was shipping supplies through the port it was a key target, but Stirling had argued strongly against the SAS being used for such a large-scale operation.

After being driven round Benghazi in the back of a truck by his captors for the entertainment of the populace, Almonds was shipped to Italy and put in a camp near Taranto.

In a carefully rehearsed plan, he and three other prisoners working in the Red Cross food parcels store overcame, bound and gagged their three Italian guards and escaped from the camp through an upper window of the store. They remained free for two weeks but felt compelled to give themselves up when one of the group became so ill with pneumonia that they feared he would die. Sent back to the camp from which they had escaped, the four were informed that they would be tried by court martial for assaulting an Italian officer — for which the sentence was death.

Almonds was sent to a separate camp and held in solitary confinement for several months, during which time he occupied himself by designing and building a boat entirely in his mind. Allied landings on the toe of Italy in July 1943 brought an end to talk of a court martial, when all the prisoners were sent by train to a camp 300 miles north at Monturano.

On September 8 the Italian camp commander, who had also travelled north, informed Almonds that Italy was about to change to the Allied side and asked him to make a reconnaissance in civilian clothes of German positions around the nearby harbour. Almonds did so but, after reporting to the commandant by telephone, decided not to return.

He walked inland to the foothills of the Apennines before turning south towards the slowly advancing Allied forces. Having walked 300km, scavenging food as he went, he reached a US army forward patrol on October 14. In January 1944 he joined 1st SAS in Scotland, preparing for the invasion of Normandy. He was awarded a bar to his MM in recognition of his escape.

He went to Normandy as squadron sergeant-major of D Squadron 1st SAS to co-operate with the French resistance in sabotaging the German supply lines. After receiving their Jeeps and heavy weapons by airdrop, D Squadron wreaked havoc on enemy lines of communication through the Forest of Orleans. Almonds was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his part in this and was commissioned in September 1944. His final contribution to the Allied cause was to go with 1st SAS to Norway to assist in the apprehension of Quisling collaborators.

John Edward Almonds was born in Stixwould, Lincolnshire, the son of George Almonds, a smallholder. He became “Jim” after joining the Coldstream Guards, as there were too many Johns in his squad at Pirbright. The nickname “Gentleman Jim” originated at Tobruk because he never swore and his dugout was always immaculate — he liked to cite the old military maxim: “Any fool can be uncomfortable.”

His life after 1945 included secondment to the British Military Mission to Ethiopia, 1949-51, service with the Eritrean Police Field Force and a return to the SAS when it was reformed from the Malayan Scouts in 1952. He completed his military service in West Africa where he built the ketch he had half-designed in solitary confinement and sailed it home with two companions. He retired to the house where he was born in Stixwould.

His wife Iris May Lock, whom he married in 1939, predeceased him. He is survived by a son, who followed him into the SAS, and twin daughters who both served in the Army.

Major J. E. Almonds, MM and Bar, SAS officer, was born on August 6, 1914. He died on August 20, 2005, aged 91.

Click here to find out more!

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

September 4, 2005 at 11:59 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS men get £100,000 to bribe Iraqi fighters

SAS men get £100,000 to bribe Iraqi fighters - Britain - Times Online

David Leppard

BRITISH Army officers in Iraq are being handed stashes of up to £100,000 in cash for “operational expenses” without formal controls on how it is spent.

The money is used by the SAS and other units to buy off leaders of the insurgency or to purchase weapons on the black market to avoid them passing into rebel hands.

The decades-old tradition of paying so-called “porter money” to officers is understood to be the focus of a wide-ranging internal inquiry in the SAS. It follows allegations earlier this year that hundreds of thousands of pounds may have been misappropriated during SAS covert operations in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Sunday Times has obtained a photograph of a British officer smiling broadly as he holds nearly £60,000 worth of Iraqi dinars — still less than the maximum allowance. The cash, in crisp new notes, is neatly stacked in bundles that he holds to his chest.

The officer, said to be a captain in the SAS, told friends that the money — 158m Iraqi dinars — was part of a secret stash kept at the barracks at Basra Palace in southern Iraq.

He claimed it was used to bribe locals suspected of collaborating with rebels loyal to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, and to buy weapons on the black market.

“It’s held in a drawer in a room at the back of the palace. The SAS just walk in and take it out in a bag,” an insider said. The picture was taken in March this year and was circulated by the officer — whose name The Sunday Times is withholding for security reasons — in e-mails to his friends and family. There is no suggestion that he has acted improperly with the money.

Ken Connor, a former SAS soldier who is now a military historian, said “porter money” was first used by the SAS when it was fighting rebels in the jungles of Malaya and Borneo in the 1950s.

Connor said: “It was used to pay locals who were employed as porters to help carry the regiment’s heavy equipment through the jungle.

“The accountability is very loose. It’s got to be because being in the SAS is not like being in a normal nine to five job. But I’ve never heard of such large amounts being available. If there’s a job where you can get £100,000 without having to account for it, please count me in.”

Connor said the regiment’s use of “porter money” had sparked a previous investigation. “There was a big scandal during the Dhofar campaign,” he said, referring to SAS operations in Oman during the early 1970s.

The Ministry of Defence said that it was the department’s policy not to discuss special forces matters.

The ease with which SAS officers have been given access to such large sums of cash has raised eyebrows among colleagues in other units.

The alleged irregularities came to light after concerns were raised about the purchase of aviation fuel and other supplies for a secret mission.

Sources said military investigators queried some of the invoices. There are suggestions that they may have been inflated and the extra cash channelled elsewhere.

A senior officer with extensive special forces experience flew to Iraq this month to take part in an inquiry into the affair.

The SAS has always been able to secure funds for its special operations without going through the bureaucratic processes to which other regiments are subject. Other units in Iraq have also occasionally been granted “porter money” in special circumstances.

A review of the whole system of “porter money” is now likely. A friend of one SAS officer said: “He told me they were getting into trouble about the money, that other soldiers were asking questions about why they had so much money. He said they were probably going to have to find a better way of doing it.”

A source said inquiries were looking into covert accounts used by the elite regiment to finance operations against Al-Qaeda terrorists and insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. “Investigators are going through the SAS accounts,” said the source.

“They are investigating every penny that’s gone through the SAS in recent years.”

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

September 4, 2005 at 11:48 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Special forces turn sights from Iraq to hunt terrorists in Britain

Special forces turn sights from Iraq to hunt terrorists in Britain - Britain - Times Online

Michael Smith

BRITAIN’S special forces commanders have temporarily switched the main thrust of their attention from Iraq and Afghanistan to hunting down suspected terrorists at home.

A number of special forces teams are on an hour’s notice to move anywhere in the UK to support police operations against the terrorist threat.

The teams have a number of aircraft, including civilian helicopters and two small executive jets, assigned to them to ensure they can get anywhere in Britain as swiftly as possible.

“The UK is now at the top of our agenda and the two (terrorist) incidents will result in significant changes to our workload for the near future,” a senior defence source said.

“The UK is now at the top of our agenda and the two (terrorist) incidents will result in significant changes to our workload for the near future,” a senior defence source said.

Each of the rapid reaction teams includes a mix of SAS and Special Boat Service counter-terrorist experts, specialist human surveillance operatives and special forces bomb disposal officers.

They also include technical surveillance experts from a fifth special forces unit, 18th (UKSF) Signal Regiment, which was secretly created this year. The regiment is the third new special forces unit set up to support 22 SAS Regiment and the navy’s SBS in an expansion of Britain’s special forces to cope with the war on terror.

The new regiment includes soldiers who can monitor mobile and satellite phones and has a number of high-tech methods of listening in to conversations from up to half a mile away.

The Sunday Times revealed last week that special forces intelligence personnel were part of the surveillance operation that resulted in the shooting of an innocent Brazilian.

SAS troops also played a role in the capture nine days ago of three men suspected of taking part in the failed July 21 bomb attacks. The soldiers provided expertise in explosive entry techniques to back up raids by police firearms officers.

The extent of the involvement by special forces and the scope of their capabilities have remained secret until now. “Our people are carrying out what I can only describe as a vital role within the current operation,” one source said. “It is complex and spread across a large part of the UK. The team includes aspects of the new units assigned to UKSF (UK special forces) within the past year.”

Part of this role is understood to involve special forces merging into the background in London and other British cities. Plainclothes SAS teams have also monitored airports and main railway stations to identify any security weaknesses.

Members of the SBS have worked alongside Home Office officials on exercises at key ports to try to spot security problems. One exercise scenario involved suicide bombers hijacking an oil tanker which they aimed to blow up in a port.

However, defence sources said that although the elite military teams are under the overall control of the director of special forces, any counter-terror operations will remain under the authority of the police.

August 10, 2005 at 08:34 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Could this ‘police officer’ be a soldier? SAS Link

Could this ‘police officer’ be a soldier? - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Michael Smith
BRITISH special forces soldiers took part in the operation that led to the shoot-to-kill death of an innocent Brazilian electrician with no connection to the London bombings, defence sources said last week.

Jean Charles de Menezes was tailed by a surveillance team on July 22 as he caught a bus to Stockwell Underground station in south London. He was shot eight times when he fled from his pursuers at the Tube station.

The Ministry of Defence admitted last week that the army provided “technical assistance” to the surveillance operation but insisted the soldiers concerned were “not directly involved” in the shooting.

Press photographs of members of the armed response team taken in the immediate aftermath of the killing show at least one man carrying a special forces weapon that is not issued to SO19, the Metropolitan police firearms unit.

The man, wearing civilian clothes with a blue cap marked “Police”, was carrying a specially modified Heckler & Koch G3K rifle with a shortened barrel and a butt from a PSG-1 sniper rifle fitted to it — a combination used by the SAS.

Another man, dressed in a T-shirt, jeans and trainers, was carrying a Heckler & Koch G36C. Although this weapon is used on occasion by SO19 it appears to be fitted with a target illuminator purchased as an “urgent operational requirement” for UK special forces involved in the war on terror.

The soldiers who took part in the surveillance operation that led to de Menezes’s death included men from a secret undercover unit formed for operations in Northern Ireland, defence sources said.

Known then as 14 Int or the Det, it is reported to have formed the basis of the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the newly created special forces unit stationed alongside the SAS at Hereford. The men include SAS soldiers serving on attachment and are part of a team of around 50 UK special forces that has operated in London since the July 7 bombings in which 56 people died.

Special forces counterterrorist experts have been regularly used to support police at Heathrow since the September 11 attacks. They moved into London a day after the July 7 bombings and have been supporting the police and gathering intelligence to help snare the suspects.

Members of SO19 (technically known as CO19) are trained by SAS and SBS instructors. One key tenet of that training is to ensure that a suicide bomber is killed rather than wounded, which would allow them to trigger a bomb.

The use of multiple shots to the head is the modus operandi of the special forces, whether from the SAS, the SBS or the undercover intelligence operators used in the Stockwell operation. Over the past 30 years the SAS has developed a reputation for never allowing gunmen to remain alive, an attitude shown most graphically during the 1980 Iranian hostages siege and the Gibraltar IRA killings eight years later.

“It is vital to strike fear into the minds of the terrorists,” one former SAS officer said. “In an ongoing situation such as we have now the fear must be directed to the fact that we are watching them and will eventually (get) them. They need to know that they cannot escape.

“We know they are happy to kill themselves but that doesn’t mean they are happy to be killed by others. As long as they evade the police they will think they are in control but the minute they are intercepted they lose control.”

The Ministry of Defence insisted last week that the military involvement was limited in the operation that led to de Menezes’s death. “We would describe it as technical assistance as part of a police-led operation under police control,” a spokeswoman said. “It is a particular military capability that the police can draw on if needed. It was a low-level involvement in support of a police-controlled operation.”

The Det is made up of the army’s best urban surveillance operators using skills honed in Belfast against republican and loyalist terrorists. Its speciality has always been close target reconnaissance: undercover work among civilians, observing terrorists at close quarters, and carrying out covert searches of offices and houses for information and weapons.

The unit was very egalitarian when it operated in Northern Ireland. An operator’s rank was always regarded as less important than his or her capabilities; it was also the only UK special forces unit to use women.

The Det broke into homes to gather intelligence and plant listening devices or hidden cameras. Weapons were left where they were found but “jarked” with tiny transmitters placed inside them that would provide warning should they be moved.

August 1, 2005 at 10:28 AM in SAS, Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Shoot to kill error echoes Irish dirty war

London bombs terror attack The Times and Sunday Times Times Online

When the stakes are high, police have no choice but to use controversial tactics, say Liam Clarke and Tony Geraghty
The five shots with which a policeman killed a terrorist suspect in London last week echoed round the world. From America to Australia and Asia, the killing made headlines and marked the crossing of a boundary.

Though the days when all British bobbies were thought to be unarmed have long passed, the clinical and close-quarter nature of the shooting was unprecedented in Britain. Police have previously shot men believed to be dangerous, but they have not stood over a prostrate figure and unloaded five rounds into him from point-blank range. To compound matters the police admitted yesterday he had nothing to do with the terror attacks.

However, London has never before faced suicide bombers. The stakes have become much higher, forcing new rules of engagement.

Friday’s killing was a direct result of aggressive new guidelines from Scotland Yard based on the experience of Israel and Sri Lanka in dealing with suicide bombers. British officers are now under instructions to shoot suspects in the head if they are believed to be suicide bombers posing an imminent danger.

A policy of “shoot-to-kill” echoes the darkest days of the Northern Irish troubles. And it raises worrying questions when applied in the much larger and more mixed communities of mainland Britain, and when the suspected terrorists are much more elusive and shadowy.

Today’s Muslim leaders, although supportive of law and order, are worried and demanding explanations. “There may well be reasons why the police felt it necessary to unload five shots into the man and shoot him dead, but they need to make those reasons clear,” said Inayat Bunglawala of the Muslim Council of Britain.

Prophetically, a former senior Special Branch officer from Northern Ireland said: “I suspect that the authorities in England will make all the same mistakes as we did.”

Those errors include an operation in Gibraltar in 1988 when the SAS killed three IRA members in the belief that they were about to detonate a radio-controlled bomb. In reality the explosives were miles away and the three suspects were carrying no radio equipment.

Although the Gibraltar coroner’s court ruled that the killings had been lawful, the European Court of Human Rights later criticised the “lack of degree of caution in the use of firearms” by the SAS.

Specialist security forces, such as the recently formed Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), which has been drafted in to combat the present terror threat, are generally protected by law if they shoot first and ask questions later, provided they believe the suspect was a threat to the lives of others.

This proved to be the case when Diarmuid O’Neill, an unarmed IRA man, was shot dead in his Hammersmith flat in 1996. The officer who pulled the trigger told a coroner’s court: “His body language was aggressive, he leaned towards me.” The jury returned a verdict of lawful killing.

But the new policy to cope with suicide attacks is a step further. With suicide bombers there is no question of trying to stop suspects by wounding them: only immediate execution will do.

The threat and risks run far wider than London. Specialist firearms officers are being deployed on secondment to MI5, which is opening eight offices in cities including Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham. The aim is to increase the surveillance of terrorist suspects and to penetrate radical networks with informants.

The highly secretive SRR draws on members of the 14th Intelligence Company, and the Force Research Unit (FRU), which handled all military intelligence informers in Northern Ireland.

If the pattern of Northern Ireland is repeated, Asian servicemen will be encouraged to volunteer for covert duties. Some may “resign” from the army to return to their communities as undercover agents.

The past two weeks have given Britons a test of what is potentially in store in the weeks, months, even years ahead. It is a dangerous balance for everyone.

“You can’t be afraid to act if life is at stake,” said a former Northern Ireland Special Branch officer. “But if you alienate people you can hand the terrorists a long-term support base from which to operate.”

July 24, 2005 at 01:26 AM in IRA, SAS, Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR), UK | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Northern Ireland expertise to boost MI5 team

Northern Ireland expertise to boost MI5 team - London bombs - Times Online

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor and Stewart Tendler

SPECIALIST army surveillance units are helping the police and MI5 to search for potential suicide bombers and their support networks.

The unprecedented joint operation, in the past confined to undercover missions in Northern Ireland, has been under way since the July 7 attacks.

The SAS counter-terrorist squadron, based at Hereford, is understood to be ready to be deployed at three hours’ notice to any location in the country if the police or MI5 pinpoints an address suspected of housing armed terrorists connected to the London bombings.

In Spain, the search for the Madrid bombers last year led police to a house where terrorists blew themselves up after a siege. In a similar situation in Britain, it is likely that the SAS would be called in.

MI5 has also begun a campaign to recruit more women into the newly fornmed Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

The regiment, which was announced in the House of Commons in April, works in teams of four to six to monitor suspected terrorists and draws largely on the expertise of the Army’s 14th Intelligence Company, also known as the “The Det” (Detachment).

The Det, whose operatives usually pose as couples, has unrivalled experience in monitoring republican and loyalist terrorists in Northern Ireland. MI5 has a shortage of women to take on such roles.

Another unit from Northern Ireland, the Joint Support Group, formally called the Force Research Unit, may also be used.

MI5 is devoting a large proportion of the extra funding provided by the Treasury last year in building up its surveillance and international terrorism branches. It hopes to increase its manpower to 3,000 by 2008.

Eight regional MI5 offices are being set up in Scotland and the Midlands, North East, North West, East and South East to liaise closer with police Special Branch forces.

The drive comes as M15 faces questions over its decision not to focus on Mohammad Sidique Khan after he was linked with with terrorist suspects. Last week police said that he was not considered a high priority for investigation last year.

July 21, 2005 at 12:54 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS arrests at Blair home

SAS arrests at Blair home - Britain - Times Online

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor

TWO men arrested near the Prime Minister’s country residence were found to be SAS soldiers. They were spotted in a tree by a police helicopter.

The police, on full alert around Chequers during the election campaign, made checks and found that the soldiers were from Hereford, the home of the SAS, and were on an “officially sanctioned�� exercise. The constabulary had not been told.

They were apparently not engaged in a covert mission to test security at the house in Buckinghamshire. But they had cameras and mobile phones and were in a position in the tree with a good view of the estate. The soldiers were released on bail and no further action will be taken. The Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

May 1, 2005 at 09:45 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Who steals wins: birth of the SAS

Who steals wins: birth of the SAS - Review - Times Online

The original members of the elite unit were misfits and mavericks, writes Stuart Wavell

It was the most unexpected telephone call that Gordon Stevens had ever received, summoning him to a Special Air Service office in London. The SAS is notoriously tight-lipped but it appeared that the regiment wanted the television documentary maker to spill some of its secrets.

It was 1985. Stevens had caught the eye of the regiment�s high-ups with his film Secret Hunters which revealed how, between 1945 and 1948, a secret SAS unit hunted down war criminals even though the regiment had been disbanded.

To his astonishment, Stevens was invited by Colonel Sir David Stirling, founder of the SAS, to a discreet hotel in the New Forest. There he met and filmed Stirling and the other surviving founders of the regiment, who put on record for the first time how the extraordinary unit was formed in the north African desert campaign during the second world war.

The idea of a film was later dropped, but Stevens saved the transcripts and has now woven them into a book, The Originals.

Stirling, then 70 and in poor health (although he lived for another five years), was not the gung-ho figure that Stevens had imagined.

�He struck me as a very powerful character,� he says. �But talking to the others he came across as a strange mixture � shy and with a quality of vulnerability, yet totally ruthless.�

Stirling�s �originals� were a group of rule breakers, misfits and mavericks. They included a veteran of the Spanish civil war and an Irish rugby international who had been imprisoned for beating up his commanding officer.

Stirling�s big idea came in 1941 as he lay on a hospital bed in Cairo. He was 24, a second lieutenant who had escaped being court-martialled for cowardice after using his hangovers to fake illness. For once he was officially paralytic, having damaged his spine during his first parachute jump.

He was finding life as a commando frustrating: operations were invariably postponed or cancelled. �I�d gone out with the usual enthusiasm for having a go at the enemy,� he said, �but I wasn�t going to have a go at them if we were going to have a dreary life in the desert.�

Stirling�s concept of the SAS was born out of the commandos� calamitous experience. Instead of a 600-strong commando unit attacking two targets, he reasoned that 15 units comprising four men could attack 15 targets. By exploiting surprise and guile it would be more effective. His revolutionary idea was that every soldier would be independent.

To sell his big idea Stirling knew that he would have to avoid military bureaucracy and go straight to the top.

He left his hospital bed and limped to Middle East HQ, where he used his crutches �as a kind of ladder� and dodged his way to General Ritchie, deputy commander Middle East, who read his paper and ordered him to assemble his new force.

Stirling had the pick of the disgruntled commando forces languishing in the area. Their felonious aptitudes were put to the test by his first order � to �steal� some quarters in which to train the detachment. The men obliged by absconding with a camp temporarily vacated by New Zealanders. �We stole tents, bars and three marquees. We stole the lot,� recalled Bob Bennett, one of the �originals�.

Appropriating the name �Special Air Service� was Stirling�s private joke. It was already the title of a bogus deception unit of tiny model parachutists with 3ft parachutes. Choosing a motto was more difficult. �We Descend To Defend� was briefly contemplated before Stirling decided on �Who Dares Wins�.

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

May 1, 2005 at 09:40 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Fallen SBS leader set up jungle rescue

Fallen SBS leader set up jungle rescue - Newspaper Edition - Times Online

Peter Almond and John Elliott
THE head of an elite commando unit who died last week on exercise off Norway masterminded one of the most daring special forces operations of recent years, senior military sources have disclosed.

Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Van Der Horst, commander of the Special Boat Service, the Royal Marines’ counterpart of the SAS, was the leading planner for a lightning raid that rescued six British soldiers from rebel fighters in Sierra Leone in 2000.

As Van Der Horst�s wife and two young daughters prepare for what is expected to be a quiet family funeral this week, senior officers have given details both of his high-flying career and of the incident on a mini-submarine in a Norwegian fjord that led to his death.

Van Der Horst, from London and in his early forties, was himself the son of a former SBS chief and won the sword of honour on passing out as the best junior officer in 1988.

A senior army colleague said: �He was an outstanding man, an enormously popular and outward guy who I would have no doubt was destined to be at least director of special forces, a position never held by someone from the SBS.�

Van Der Horst, said the officer, was highly regarded by both the SBS and the SAS, adding: �And there is not a lot of love lost between them.�

Another source added: �As commanding officer he didn�t have to do these exercises, but he did not want to lose touch with his men. He liked to keep his hand in at the sharp end and that bravery cost him his life.�

When he became trapped in the sub, Van Der Horst was taking part in Nato�s exercise Battle Griffin. He was with a group of SBS frogmen near the Olavsvern naval base, deep inside the Arctic Circle near Tromso. Some of the 14,000 personnel on the exercise were training in how to retake oil rigs and ships from Al-Qaeda terrorists.

In the minutes leading up to the incident, Van Der Horst was on board a six-seat Mark 8 Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (SDV). The mini submarine was designed for the US Navy Seals special forces and can carry frogmen undetected over 50 miles underwater. It has a pilot and navigator at the front, with four other men and equipment in a compartment behind. All on board must carry full diving gear, including oxygen, as the SDV has no air of its own.

A special forces source said Van Der Horst was in the back of the SDV. It seems he encountered difficulties with his oxygen supply and could not get out of the submersible.

The rest of the team were already out and swimming freely, said the source. They struggled to free Van Der Horst over the next 10 minutes as he gradually ran out of oxygen.

It is believed Van Der Horst was unconscious when he was brought to the surface. He spent a week on life support in hospital but never came round. His wife was at his bedside when he died last Monday.

The Ministry of Defence has disclosed little of the incident, in line with the practice of not reporting special forces� work. The ministry is also awaiting the outcome of an inquiry.

Fellow soldiers, however, paid tribute to a man who seems to have been distinguished even by special forces standards.

Unlike most of the forces, which are being cut sharply, the SBS has grown � from 100 combat troops five years ago to a total combat strength of some 250 in three squadrons now, more than half the size of the SAS.

Van Der Horst spent part of his early career specialising in mortars and later fought in the first Gulf war in 1991.

In Sierra Leone he helped plan the mission in which SBS frogmen moved along a creek, joining SAS and Parachute Regiment soldiers who burst out of the jungle. They routed the West Side Boyz militia, freeing the British soldiers. One SAS man was killed in the attack.

Van Der Horst won an OBE for services in the second Gulf war in 2003, when the SBS helped prevent Saddam Hussein�s forces blowing up oil installations in southern Iraq.

When he became commander of the SBS, Van Der Horst was emulating his father Rupert, now a brigadier, who led the service from 1978 to 1980. Last week tributes to Van Der Horst were posted on a marines� internet message board. One read: �Knew this man as a young troop officer . . . excellent officer who led by example.�

Additional reporting: Jonathan Tisdall

March 19, 2005 at 11:54 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Crisis as SAS men quit for lucrative Iraq jobs

Telegraph | News | Crisis as SAS men quit for lucrative Iraq jobs

By Thomas Harding
(Filed: 14/02/2005)

The number of SAS troopers leaving for lucrative jobs in the security industry has prompted the regiment to write to all soldiers urging them to stay.

A letter from the regiment's headquarters has told all the SAS's 300 front-line soldiers that "it would be in everyone's best interests" if they remained in service.

An estimated 120 former Special Air Service and Special Boat Service troops have left, swapping a junior NCO's wage of about �2,000 a month for as much as �14,000 a month working as security co-ordinators in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The letter is said to have told soldiers to consider their loyalty to the regiment and the kudos of being in the SAS.

"This has always been an issue," an SAS soldier said yesterday. "It is not the young ones that they are worried about but the senior NCOs who are so important.

"If they lose middle management they lose all that experience for the future and they are desperate to keep that experience there."

One former 22 SAS soldier now working in security estimated that 120 former Special Forces men are working for security firms in Iraq.

Some are earning �450 a day, or �14,000 a month, working for firms such as Kroll, Controlled Risks and Armour Security.

The former soldier, who had just one week off in his last two years in the SAS, said: "They cannot stop people from leaving. The SAS lifestyle is extremely demanding and not really conducive to family life or long-term relationships. On the security circuit you have the potential to earn very high wages combined with an attractive working rotation, invariably one month on, one month off."

While wages, pensions and life insurance have been addressed in recent years, the SAS still has substantial commitments around the world. Workload cannot be addressed, said the former soldier, "because the men are deployed all over the place".

The United States Defence Department has offered its most experienced special forces a bonus of $150,000 (�80,000) to sign on for six years to stem an exodus to security jobs, it was announced last week.

The two SAS Territorial Army regiments are also experiencing manning problems and weekend training has been threatened due to lack of numbers. Some TA have been granted permission for up to a year's leave of absence but others have left for the private sector.

TA SAS soldiers, who have a similar selection process to their regular colleagues, are obliged to undertake a certain number of days' training a year. With about 120 front-line "sabre" trained troops each, the TA regiments cannot afford to lose many more.

"The TA are struggling with manning, especially 21 SAS," said an SAS insider. "Drill nights and weekend training are especially suffering."

A former TA SAS soldier said: "The regiment is going to find it difficult because sums just don't add up to replace those who have buggered off."

The troop losses are also affecting the northern-based 23 SAS, which does not have the large number of well-paid doctors, lawyers and city workers found in the southern-based 21 SAS.

A senior SAS source said there had been a loss of TA soldiers. He said: "It has not been astronomical or a massive haemorrhaging of talent because a lot of blokes have been deployed operationally anyway," he said. "It has not had a detrimental effect as yet."

An MoD source did not deny that a number of soldiers had left for security jobs.

While it is not MoD policy to comment on Special Forces, a spokesman said the appeal of "operating in elite units of the British Armed forces remains a very strong draw for our most exceptional people".

He added: "Members of all TA regiments are entitled to full-time employment of their choice, this is the same for the TA SAS regiments."

February 14, 2005 at 12:02 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Hercules victims flown home

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-6047-1476055,00.html

By Michael Evans

A FULL panoply of top brass attended the ceremony yesterday for the repatriation of the bodies of ten servicemen killed in the C130 Hercules crash in Iraq 11 days ago.

The presence of the most senior military commanders at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, as well as the Princess Royal and Geoff Hoon, the Defence Sercetary, highlighted the devastating impact that the crash — the cause of which is still unknown — has had on Britain’s special forces units.

A former special forces member said: “This has not only been a blow for 47 Squadron (to which five of those who died belonged) but also for the regiment (22 SAS Regiment). They all know each other because they serve together in difficult and extreme operational conditions.�� An inquest will be held into their deaths.

February 13, 2005 at 12:59 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS men could dodge missiles, so what downed the Hercules?

By David Charter, Richard Beeston and Michael Evans

RELATIVES of the ten servicemen killed when their Hercules aircraft exploded over Iraq were warned yesterday that it could take weeks to identify their remains and establish the cause of the disaster.

Buckingham Palace issued a message of sympathy from the Queen and the Princess Royal made a private visit to RAF Lyneham, Wiltshire, home base of eight of the dead, as the Ministry of Defence released the names of the victims.

The five-man Hercules crew came from 47 Squadron, the RAF Special Forces unit specially trained to work with the SAS. The sole Army victim, Acting Lance Corporal Steven Jones, was with a Signals regiment also believed to be attached to the SAS.

Balad, the destination of the Hercules flight, is known to have a British special forces base, suggesting that the aircraft was on a mission to pick up soldiers from the SAS.

With its responsibility for carrying members of the elite regiment, the RAF crew would have been well practised in the art of evading enemy missiles and ground fire, making it less likely that the Hercules was hit by a ground-launched or shoulder-launched weapon.

Fears that the victims� bodies may have been stolen from the scene by insurgents were played down by the MoD although it continued to list them as �missing presumed killed�. An MoD spokeswoman said that there was no evidence that bodies had been removed by rebels. She added: �At the beginning the search was for survivors. That has turned into a search to recover bodies and wreckage for the investigation. The search for bodies is ongoing.�

Wing Commander Andrew Brookes, an ex-RAF officer at the International Institute of Strategic Studies, said: �The wreckage and bodies will be spread over a wide area. The dilemma which faces them out there is that you do not want to risk lives to find bodies in bandit country, so it is going to take a long time.�

Within hours US forces sealed off the area northwest of Baghdad where the RAF Hercules crashed on Sunday evening, and British experts have joined the search team.

Local residents yesterday said that the wreckage was scattered across a field between the towns of Tarmia and Balad. Villagers in the area, a hotbed of insurgent activity, were said to have been jubilant at news that a coalition aircraft had crashed. They cheered and offered passers-by glasses of orange juice, claiming that a local tribe had shot the Hercules down.

One Iraqi militant group has already claimed that it downed the plane with an anti-tank missile while a second produced a video which purported to show it being shot down.

Analysts are increasingly convinced that the video of wreckage shown on al-Jazeera on Monday does indeed show the ill-fated Hercules. But any link between footage at the start of the film, showing the firing of two missiles, and the crash has been discounted by experts.

The MoD refused to rule out any cause while the investigation continued. A spokesman said: �We are not going to speculate about the causes until we have got a clear picture. Bombs on board, missile strikes, explosions � that is a matter for the crash investigators to work through and advise on.

�This is a marshy area north of Baghdad. We have got to take into account any hostile forces that might be in the area. It could take weeks.�

There were reports yesterday that other coalition aircraft had come under small-arms fire near Baghdad. Don Lucey, a pilot based at RAF Lyneham, told Sky News that he was flying a Hercules from Baghdad to Basra when it was hit in one of its four engines shortly after take-off but he managed to complete the journey.

James Gray, MP for Wiltshire North, said: �This is a great blow to the whole village community of Lyneham, which is a very small village entirely dominated by the base.�


Click here to find out more!

Copyright 2005 Times Newspapers Ltd.

February 7, 2005 at 11:54 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS - a History

BBC - h2g2 - SAS - a History

The origins of modern-day Commandos can be traced back to the Boer War1. The name Commando was given by the British to the Boer irregular troops in recognition of their exceptional marksmanship and guerrilla-style2 warfare.

Storm Troopers

In World War One, the opposing armies had reached a stalemate. Victory was possible but at great cost to both sides, and the current tactics had to be improved on. Storm troopers, deployed by the German Army, were sent before the first wave of an attack, to seize essential sites. Lightly armed and equipped, but possessing better weaponry than the average infantryman, they had the edge in trench warfare. Relying on speed rather than brute force to take targets, the Storm troopers were normally exposed to artillery and machine-gun fire for short periods at a time.

Paratroopers

The first paratroopers3 were not British, German or even American. It was the Russians - after picking up the original idea from Italy - who showed the world the potential of airborne strikes. They could achieve much more with a lot less equipment, and could be deployed into trouble spots quicker. This was demonstrated by a training exercise held in the 1930s, in the Ukraine, when Russian troops parachuted onto an 'enemy-held' airport, secured it, and then waited to be further reinforced by air and then by armoured forces.

Unfortunately for the British, the idea went over their heads. It was not until 22 June, 1940, that British war-time Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, called for the formation of a corps of 'at least five thousand parachute troops, suitably organised and equipped'.4 This was the foundation of Britain's Parachute Regiment. The Americans did take notice but had other things on their mind - in 1941 the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour. It fell to the Germans to be the first to utilise airborne troops to their fullest extent. The effectiveness of this new form of waging war was demonstrated when, in 1941, the Germans invaded Crete, and then Norway, with airborne troops.

Marine Commandos

By the time Britain's parachute regiments were up and combat-effective, most of mainland Europe and the off-shore Channel Islands were under the control of the Axis countries. Britain and her British Commonwealth allies simply did not possess enough resources to attempt to liberate this occupied territory. The war in North Africa was raging. The idea of small Commando raids arose as an acceptable solution to appease public discontent. Here was a way Britain could co-ordinate attacks on mainland Europe without openly engaging the Germans in battle. Marine Commandos (now known as the Royal Marine Commandos) struck at St Nazaire, the 'largest dry dock in the world'. Not only was it the only dock capable of servicing the giant battleships Tirpitz, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, it was an important U-Boat5 base. Dieppe was raided by the Marine Commandos and Walcheren was seized by them.

North African Campaign - WW2

This campaign was fought mainly because of two things. The first was the Suez Canal, which was vital to control the Middle East. The second was Middle East oil resources. Should the Axis powers attempted seizure of the oil fields in Russia fail (which it did), then the Axis coalition would need to find a supply of oil elsewhere. The only thing that stood in its way was, at first, a small British Commonwealth Army under the over-all command of General Wavell. The Italians they faced outnumbered them 10-1, and promptly, due to far inferior equipment, low morale and poor logistics, found themselves with the military equivalent of a bloody nose, broken ribs and two shattered knee caps. Hitler could only do one thing. He sent in one of his best units, the Afrika Korps, with General 'Desert Fox' Rommel at the helm. The two armies grew in size and since neither could quite finish the other off, found themselves in virtual stalemate, coming and going across the desert areas surrounding Egypt and Libya.

Special Air Service

At about this time David Stirling, the founder of the SAS, was lying in a hospital bed, injured in a parachute jump mishap. A subaltern in the Brigade of Guards, he had noted the inefficiency of commando raids. Realising the same results, or better, could be achieved with much smaller groups of men, on his return to active duty he bluffed his way into the 8th Army headquarters and put his idea to General Ritchie. At the time, the Allied forces were on the run from Rommel's army. Because it would not require much in logistics, Stirling's idea appealed to Ritchie, who named the new unit, the Special Air Service Brigade. The idea behind the name was to give the Germans the impression that the Allies had a large airborne force in North Africa.

Harsh selection and training was implemented straight from the regiment's first day. Recruiting and training took less than a week. The initial SAS force consisted of six officers and 60 enlisted men. The two officers that Stirling most wanted, Paddy Mayne and Jock Lewes, would write themselves into SAS folklore.

Shaky Beginnings

The SAS's first operation went badly. Stirling had perceived the best method of getting behind enemy lines was by parachute. Alas, the weather was so bad that the ground was impossible to see by the pilots. The parachutists landed way off target. They had to leg it across to Allied lines, which was no mean feat. Less than half the force eventually made it back to base. Fortunately, Allied High Command was more concerned about German Field Marshall Erwin Rommel and his new offensive.

Stirling was not put off, and co-ordinated with the successful reconnaissance group, the Long Range Desert Group. The plan was that the LRDG would provide the transport, and the SAS, the destruction. They went after anything in range, such as airstrips and even Rommel's headquarters. Eventually the Germans lost hundreds of aircraft and scores of supply posts to SAS raids.

In Tunisia, in 1943, Stirling paid the price for leading from the front. Captured, he escaped four times before he was transferred to Colditz Castle prison camp for the remainder of the war.

Many 'Private Armies', as the General Staff called them, relied on the 'charisma and drive of one man', but perhaps the true sign of SAS skill and bravery, was, even without Stirling's charismatic leadership, they continued to inflict heavy damage on the Axis war machine.

Spectacular Statistics

The SAS caused havoc in Italy and in Operation Wallace (post D-Day landings). After a battle in Dijon, it was estimated that they had killed 7,731 Germans, captured 4,784 prisoners and destroyed, or took control of, 700 vehicles. 164 railway lines were cut, seven trains were destroyed and 33 were derailed. Perhaps, the most dubious recognition of the SAS's success was the Fuhrer Directive, calling for all captured Commandos to be shot.

These men are highly dangerous... they must be ruthlessly exterminated.
- Adolf Hitler

This meant Axis forces were supposed to shoot anybody who was not a downed airman. The order was in breach of the Geneva Convention6. Some people who obeyed this order would eventually be prosecuted for war crimes.

After WW2 the scaling down of the armed forces looked likely to foreshadow the end of the Commandos. All were scrapped, save the Marine Commandos, who were merged into the Royal Marines, leaving only a territorial unit of the SAS (21 SAS).

Fighting Communists

Somewhat fortuitously, the Malaysian Emergency in the 1960s resurrected the SAS. In the form of the Malaysian Scouts they would perform counter-insurgency operations against the communist insurgents. One of the reasons Malaysia, in its present form, is here today is through the success of the SAS.

The SAS were then given a regular regiment, the 22nd and another territorial unit, the 23rd. The 22nd would see action over the ensuing forty years in numerous theatres of war, establishing themselves once again as one of the worlds 'premier' special forces.

Oman

In Oman, communist insurgents were battling against the pro-British Sultan. The SAS was sent in twice in the guise of British Army Training Teams (BATT) to help train up the Sultan's troops and fight themselves. One of the most notable battles was in Jebel Akhdar, where troopers assaulted a rebel stronghold ensconced in a previously unassailable place. Another was the Battle of Mirbat, where insurgents or 'adoo' were attempting to raise flagging support by assaulting a garrison town. Only the SAS and gratefully-accepted air support from the Oman Air Force prevented this occurring.

On Home Ground

Undoubtedly, one of the more famous missions the SAS has undertaken was the siege at Princess Gate, London, home of the Iranian Embassy. Terrorists, financed by Iraq's Saddam Hussein, attempted to force Britain to use its (almost nil) influence on Iran to restore the deposed Shah to his throne. The British Government sent in the SAS, resulting in defeat for the terrorists. Two innocent people died; a hostage was shot before the SAS went in, and in the ensuring assault, the assistant press attach� was killed. All bar one of the terrorists died.

The Falklands Conflict

In 1982, the ruling Argentine military junta took the world by surprise when they invaded the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Resistance by the Royal Marines was spirited, until ordered to surrender by the island's Governor. In Britain, a Task Force featuring 2 and 3 PARA, a Commando Bridge (40, 42, 45 Commando) and light tanks of the Blues and Royals was assembled. The SAS was also mobilised. Along with mounting reconnaissance missions into the occupied islands, the SAS staged diversionary raids when the sea-based British Taskforce mounted their successful action to reclaim the islands. Perhaps the most daring raid of this war was the attack on an airfield in Pebble Island. Ten Pucara ground-based aircraft had to be eliminated before the task force could commence landing. The SAS destroyed all the aircraft and eliminated the garrison.

Allegedly, as a countermeasure to cover for Britain's lack of airborne-early-warning aircraft to detect the Argentine Super Etendards and their Exocets, two groups of SAS were dropped into mainland Argentina. They took up positions where they could see the aircraft land and take off, and hence give warning to the British Fleet. The book Soldier K which is part fiction, part fact, is based on this premise. What is not in doubt is that a Royal Navy Sea King did crash-land in mainland Chile.

Combating Saddam Hussein

Perhaps the SAS's worst disaster was Bravo 2-0 (Northern Road). In 1990 Iraq dictator, Saddam Hussein, invaded and annexed the tiny oil-rich state of Kuwait. He then had to face a coalition of the mightiest military powers ever assembled. His only possible way of winning such a war was to provoke Israel into the war by attacking her with SCUD missiles. He hoped this would break up the fragile coalition, as the Arab nations would now refuse to fight. From 1949 to 1996, Israel was in a state of war with most Arab countries.

To combat the SCUD threat, and cause general mayhem, three SAS sections were deployed by helicopter into the flat, desolate, Iraqi desert. Two of the sections got straight back into their helicopters and flew back to base. The one that didn't was Bravo 2-0. Hampered by inaccurate radio frequencies and a position dangerously close to an Iraqi outpost, they were compromised and had to make a fighting retreat across the Iraqi desert to Syria. Only one made it, Corporal 'Chris Ryan'. The rest were either captured - Sergeant 'Andy McNab' - or died. What happened in Iraq was a shambles, to put it mildly. What Bravo 2-0 did to get themselves out of their position was hugely creditable. They left 200 Iraqi soldiers dead. They pushed their minds and bodies to the limit - either from self-torture, or sheer bloody mindedness - to get home.

After this debacle, SAS squadrons operated in armed Landrovers, and achieved remarkable success. By enforcing a no-go zone, where no SCUD Transporter Erector Launcher (TEL) would venture across. The SCUD missiles no longer had the range to strike Israel.

The Balkans

More recently, in Bosnia, SAS teams were detailed to provide laser spotting on the artillery pieces bombarding the city of Sarajevo. SAS personal have also provided reconnaissance of possible landing zones in Kosovo for the Air Mobile elements of the British Army and to observe Serbs withdrawing from previously-held positions in the province. An on-going SAS operation is the seizure of suspected war criminals in the former Yugoslavia.

Northern Ireland

Over many years, Britain's SAS has operated in Northern Ireland. Their on-going efforts to help build a lasting-peace between the warring Catholic and Protestant militia is outside the scope of this article.

Liaison And Training

In the SAS's Counter Terrorist (CT) and Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) roles, the SAS liaise with, and train, many of the premier HRT teams based in other countries. These include Germany's GSG 9 and France's GIGN, among others.

1 Also known as the South African War, 1899 - 1902. An expensive and brutal colonial war. It pitted almost 500,000 imperial troops against 87,000 republican burghers, Cape 'rebels', and foreign volunteers.
2 A member of an irregular, usually indigenous military or paramilitary unit operating in small bands in occupied territory to harass and undermine the enemy, such as by surprise raids.
3 Paratroopers are infantry-trained and equipped to parachute into enemy territories. Often, but incorrectly described as Commando's.
4 In October 1941 Major General FAM Browning DSO was ordered to form an Airborne Division.
5 German submarine.
6 The order had fateful consequences for the 'Cockle Shell Heroes' Marine Commandos sent to destroy Axis shipping in the Loire. Eight were captured and shot, while two escaped. The mission was successful.

January 30, 2005 at 12:33 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS numbers to rise

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | SAS numbers to rise

Richard Norton-Taylor
Tuesday November 9, 2004
The Guardian

The army is to increase the size of the elite SAS regiment to fight the global "war on terror", senior defence officials said yesterday.

A priority in a restructuring of the armed forces now beginning is "global counter-terrorism", they said. That meant increasing the role of Britain's special forces.

The SAS has about 400 troopers, a figure which has remained more or less constant since the second world war. SAS veterans and some defence experts argue that increasing the number of special force soldiers would "dilute the stock" of the elite unit, and lead to lower training standards.

But unprecedented pressure on the SAS and the SBS - its naval equivalent - as a result of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have persuaded military planners to increase the size of the force.

The number of SAS troopers is expected to increase by up to 80 over the next few years.

SAS and SBS troopers have been hunting for the remnants of al-Qaida and Taliban supporters on the Afghanistan border with Pakistan. They have been operating in Iraq since before the invasion last year.

November 21, 2004 at 11:54 AM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Thatcher and the plot straight out of fiction

Scotsman.com News - News Archive - Thatcher and the plot straight out of fiction

FRED BRIDGLAND IN JOHANNESBURG

IT IS a real-life Dogs of War plot that Frederick Forsyth or Graham Greene might have found too preposterous to try to sell as a novel.

An Eton-educated Scots Guardsman, who happens to be the son of an England cricket captain, allegedly takes a million dollars from the son of a renowned British prime minister to overthrow a cannibalistic African dictator in an oil-rich former Spanish African territory with the help of South African mercenaries.

Believe it or not though, that is the alleged background to the arrest yesterday of Mark Thatcher on charges of breaching South African legislation that outlaws mercenary activities. Thatcher was released on bail of �160,000 and ordered to reappear in Cape Town�s Wynberg Regional Court on 25 November.

The plot, had it succeeded, might have been applauded around the world because its target, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea, has an appalling human rights record. Opponents disappear regularly in his tiny, oil-rich state. His brother is a top internal security officer and, according to Amnesty International and United States State Department reports, a torturer whose minions throw buckets of urine over their victims, slice off their ears with razor blades and rub oil into their bodies to attract soldier ants.

But it was an alleged plot that went wrong almost from the start. At its heart was Simon Mann, schooled at Eton and Sandhurst and who served in the Scots Guards, the British regiment most closely associated with the upper-strata of British society, and the SAS.

At birth, 51 years ago, Mann, the son of former MCC president and England cricket captain George Mann, was an unlikely candidate to end up in chains and shackles in one of Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe�s fetid prisons, where he languishes today.

It was on 7 March this year that an aging Boeing-727, purchased by Mann�s IT company, Logo Logistics, took off from a little-used airfield north of Pretoria, in South Africa, carrying 69 men, most of them black Angolan soldiers in South Africa�s former crack foreign legion outfit, 32 Battalion.

It landed after darkness at Harare international airport, taxied to a far corner of the airfield and waited for the arrival of Mann, who had purchased a large consignment of weapons from Zimbabwe Defence Industries, the weapons trading company of Mr Mugabe�s government. Mann failed to show up. Instead, soldiers and police swarmed on to the aircraft, arrested the men and detained them at the notorious Chikurubi Prison, just outside Harare, where they were joined by Mann, who had arrived in the Zimbabwean capital a few days earlier.

Mann and his men were charged with plotting to overthrow Mr Nguema. They have denied the charges, arguing they were en route to the Congo to fulfil a contract to guard a mine in that war-torn country.

At the same time, 13 alleged fellow mercenaries, led by Nick du Toit, a former 32 Battalion officer, were arrested in Equatorial Guinea itself. They were accused of planning to team up with Mann�s men on an island near Equatorial Guinea before launching the coup.

According to reports in the Spanish media, the exiled dissident politician Severo Moto, a resident for several years in Madrid, would have been installed in Malabo, the Equatorial Guinea capital, within 30 minutes of the coup beginning.

The trial of du Toit and his co-accused in Malabo is expected to be wrapped up this week. They could face death by firing squad if found guilty of plotting Mr Nguema�s overthrow.

Reports say that du Toit admits to having met Mann and Thatcher. He said Mann brought him and Thatcher together, but testified that Lady Thatcher�s son expressed interest only in buying military helicopters for a mining deal in Sudan.

The fundamental flaw in the coup plot was that, by late 2003, it was one of the worst-kept secrets in Africa.

Western powers are jittery about Mr Nguema�s regime. His country was once one of the poorest in Africa. Now, after the recent discovery of huge offshore oil reserves, it is, in per capita terms, one of the richest. It has been dubbed the Kuwait of Africa, with the world�s fastest growing economy, and is expected soon to provide 5 per cent of US oil needs. Most western countries, as well as Spain, doubt the stability of a country ruled by a president who is widely accused of eating his opponents� body parts and who sits on an oil output of more than 250,000 barrels a day, and rising.

He also accused Eli Calil, a Nigerian-born Lebanese businessmen who lives in a �20 million house in Chelsea, of being the main financier of the coup. Mr Calil and Mr Moto are friends, and Mr Calil is also a friend of Mark Thatcher.

At some point, according to many accounts, friends of Mr Calil are alleged to have contacted Mann and asked him to put together the coup operation. Mann was a good potential candidate. Despite his privileged and comfortable upbringing, he had a low boredom threshold and a taste for adventure. He passed the harrowing selection procedures of the SAS at the first attempt. .

Mann resigned from the army and established his own security company which, among other ventures, provided bodyguards to wealthy Arabs to protect their Scottish Highland estates. However, he was so much a member of the Establishment and so highly thought of that General Sir Peter de la Billi�re, the commander of British forces during the 1990 Gulf war, recalled Mann to uniform to be his right-hand man.

After the war, Mann became a mercenary soldier. He put together a deal for the former Marxist Leninist-turned-capitalist government of Angola that resulted in a major victory against guerrilla rebels, ending a 30-year war. The fee was more than �20 million. Mann retired to the upmarket Constantia suburb, where his neighbour, in a �4.5 million, five-bedroom house with swimming pool and tennis court at No 10 Dawn Street, was Mark Thatcher.

Affair throws up 'rogues gallery'

MARK Thatcher, Jeffrey Archer, Peter Mandelson - the list of names associated in some way in the tale of the alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea reads like a rogues gallery of public figures the public loves to hate.

Mr Mandelson probably has the least to worry about. His involvement is peripheral at best, though it does have echoes of his past mishaps.

The man who lost his place in the Cabinet in 1998 for failing to disclose that he used a loan from fellow minister Geoffrey Robinson to buy a flat in Notting Hill, London, turns out to have rented a �500,000 one-bedroom flat in nearby Holland Park from one Eli Calil, who is being sued for allegedly helping to fund the coup attempt.

The new Brussels trade commissioner has refused to talk about his relationship with Mr Calil, other than to say that he paid the proper rent personally for the flat and that he has no knowledge of any coup plot.

For Lord Archer, things are a little more awkward. Calil, he acknowledges, is a family friend. The Nigerian-born oil trader also is a former financial adviser to the disgraced peer.

Documents linked to the coup case appear to show that a payment of more than �100,000 was made in the name of one J.H. (the peer�s initials) Archer to an offshore bank account belonging to Simon Mann, the old Etonian former SAS man turned mercenary accused of organising the coup attempt.

Lord Archer�s lawyers, however, have insisted that he had no dealings with Mann or his firm, Logo Limited.

And then there is Sir Mark himself. Although it is by no means his first scrape, it may yet prove to be the most serious.

He first came to national prominence when, in 1981, his role in securing a �600 million contract for the Cementation company to build a university in Oman came under scrutiny.

November 15, 2004 at 10:22 PM in SAS | Permalink | Top of page | Blog Home

Bigley family tormented by false execution claim

Telegraph | News | Bigley family tormented by false execution claim

By Damien McElroy in Baghdad and Olga Craig
(Filed: 26/09/2004)

The elderly mother of the Baghdad hostage Kenneth Bigley was taken ill for the second time in a week yesterday after a claim on an Islamic website that he had been killed by followers of the terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The report, on the Alezah website, was posted yesterday morning, claiming that Mr Bigley had been killed and that seven British soldiers had been taken prisoner. The Foreign Office dismissed the report as unreliable, and the Ministry of Defence said that all of its soldiers were accounted for and it also dismissed the report.

The apparently false claim added to the pressure on Mr Bigley's relatives, however, and paramedics were called to treat 86-year-old Elizabeth Bigley at her Liverpool home. She was later transferred to hospital, for the second time in three days. She had previously been taken to hospital on Thursday following an appeal to her son's kidnappers.

"We just pray and wait," said Stan Bigley, Kenneth's older brother, yesterday, the ninth day since the 62-year-old engineer was snatched from his home in the wealthy Baghdad district of al-Mansour.

"We can only hope and pray that the leaflets being distributed in Baghdad and the Muslim delegation that has flown out will have some effect on his captors." Two envoys from the Muslim Council of Britain are now in Baghdad to help to seek his release.

Daud Abdullah, a member of the delegation that will attempt to make contact with leading Islamic mullahs, said: "We are hopeful that Mr Bigley is alive and that we will be able to exert some influence with those who hold him hostage.

"The message is simple, it's a humanitarian one. Mr Bigley was a non-combatant. Islam does not endorse the capture of non-combatants, let alone the killing of them."

Elsewhere in Baghdad, the owner of the house from which Mr Bigley and the Americans were abducted said that he had received death threats because of his tenants' presence but that he had not told them.

The Telegraph has also learnt that the guards who failed to arrive at the villa on the day of the kidnap have identified the men who threatened them. One Iraqi who is believed to know the identity of a hostage-taker has been offered sanctuary in the United States if he co-operates with the authorities.

More than 100 SAS and American special forces in Baghdad remain on standby for a rescue operation. As he arrived in Brighton for Labour's conference, Tony Blair said: "We have been in touch with the Bigley family and I think everyone is amazed at how dignified they have been over the last few days."

Aides said that he found Mr Bigley's plight "terribly upsetting" and was resigned that it meant Iraq would again dominate the gathering.

25 September 2004: Prayers and grief at Liverpool's Mosque of Mercy
24 September 2004: Hostage's mother is taken ill after making emotional plea to captors
21 September 2004: We'll behead the British hostage next, say terrorists
Related links
Leader: Are we weak, or strong?

Max Hastings: No sense, no peace

Matthew d'Ancona: Blair haunted

Profile: Abu Musab al-Zarqawi

Hain apologises for comment

Kept in the dark

Britons risk it for riches

External links
Foreign Office

Ministry of Defence

Muslim Council of Britain

Alezah [in Arabic]

Spanish Lawyers and Solicitors

MSC

Classified Adverts

� Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.

October 2, 2004 at 12:26 AM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (225) | Top of page | Blog Home

Hill can't confirm SAS story

NEWS.com.au | Hill can't confirm SAS story (September 16, 2004)

September 16, 2004

DEFENCE Minister Robert Hill today declined to confirm whether an SAS team had been sent to Iraq.

The Australian newspaper today reported an SAS advance team had landed in Iraq in a bid to confirm whether two Australians had been taken hostage by a terrorist group.

The team had sophisticated eavesdropping equipment and included Arabic-speaking troops, the newspaper said.

Senator Hill said he had made "some decisions" this week in the interests of the safety of the alleged kidnap victims.

"We are concerned for the wellbeing of all Australians and when allegations such as this are made we take whatever prudent steps are necessary to try and safeguard their wellbeing," Senator Hill told Channel 9.

But he declined to say whether it was an SAS team.

"I don't talk about the capability of force elements," he said.

Opposition defence spokesman Kim Beazley said the Government should tell Labor exactly what measures had been put in place.

"We still don't know what it is the government has done," Mr Beazley told ABC radio.

"There are bits and pieces coming out in dribs and drabs.

"If you are going to send in any sort of team to assist with the recovery of hostages you don't let it out into the public domain because it obviously compromises the operation.

"But what you do do is tell the opposition."

But Senator Hill told ABC radio there was not obligation to tell Labor about the operation.

"We don't have parallel governments during an election," Senator Hill said.

"I took decisions that I believe help safeguard Australians.

"I wanted the actions taken and that is what I focused on in order to protect Australians."

AAP

September 15, 2004 at 07:42 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (65) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS team flies into Iraq as hostage mystery deepens

The Australian: SAS team flies into Iraq as hostage mystery deepens [September 15, 2004]

John Kerin and Brad Norington
September 15, 2004
A SPECIAL Air Service team last night flew out for Iraq as part of a contingency plan to rescue hostages should a claim that two Australian security guards have been kidnapped by terrorists be substantiated.

And an Australian Federal Police team, specially trained for a hostage crisis in the Middle East, was on standby to negotiate with the Horror Brigades of the Islamic Secret Army.

The terrorists claimed on Monday night they would kill the two Australians unless John Howard pulled Australia's 300-troop contingent out of Iraq within 24 hours.

The terrorists claimed they had seized two Australians and two Asians, apparently their clients, near the Iraqi city of Samarra.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said last night 147 Australian civilians out of 202 working in Iraq had been accounted for. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade officials were checking on the remaining known 55 -- though there could be more.

The Government had a list of 154 Australians employed as aid workers, security workers or general contractors, but the actual number of Australians believed to be in Iraq was much higher, Mr Downer said.

Mr Downer said it could take several days to account for all Australians in Iraq and to determine "whether the threat was real or a hoax".

Last night there had been no further word from the Islamic Secret Army since its claim it had kidnapped the four men on the highway from Baghdad to the northern city of Mosul was made in a statement in the Sunni Muslim stronghold of Samarra on Monday night.

As the SAS team of between 12 and 30 troopers flew to Iraq, Canberra had got no closer to verifying the threat.

The group has not issued any video or photographs of the alleged kidnap victims, or released any names, raising hopes the hostage claim could be a hoax.

As John Howard and Mark Latham, in the middle of an election campaign, vowed they would never give in to the terrorists, Mr Downer announced a team of West Australian "logistics" specialists was being sent to Iraq. He confirmed the team would provide some "contingency support" in the event that hostages had been taken.

But Mr Downer would not confirm that the team included members of the SAS regiment, which is based at Swanbourne in Perth.

Frank Halliwell, operations director of a West Australian company Australian Professional Bodyguards, told the ABC he could not locate all six of his employees in Iraq. But Mr Downer said he later had received a telephone call from Mr Halliwell inform him that the six employees were safe.

Canberra was also consulting South Korea and Japan in case they had nationals with the two missing Australians.

Earlier Mr Howard and Mr Latham made it clear they would not change Australian foreign police to placate the terrorists. "We do not negotiate with terrorists, we do not bow to terrorists' demands or threats," Mr Howard said. "We will not compromise in the face of threats of that kind."

Mr Latham said Labor's policy was very clear and that there could be not negotiation with terrorists.

"I think anyone who negotiates or makes any concessions to terrorists is just setting up further problems into the future," Mr Latham said.

"These are evil people, you can't make any concessions to them, you need to be strong in the fight against terror."

AFP Commissioner Mick Keelty said that the specially trained 20-member hostage negotiation team could be deployed quickly from Australia to Iraq, following a decision by Cabinet's national security committee.

"We've got hostage negotiators, experts on hostage negotiation and counter-terrorism ready to deploy should the Government require it," Mr Keelty said.

Speaking in Sydney, Mr Keelty said no AFP officers were in Iraq, but two were in nearby Jordan training Iraqi police.

While no AFP officers had currently taken leave to work in Iraq as highly-paid security consultants, he was aware of one NSW police officer on leave without pay in the war-torn country.

No information suggested that the the NSW police officer was involved in the alleged hostage crisis, he said.

September 15, 2004 at 07:40 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (34) | Top of page | Blog Home

France and Britain remember WWII special forces

France and Britain remember WWII special forces

SENNECY-LE-GRAND, France (AFP) Sep 04, 2004
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Britain's Princess Anne presided Saturday over a ceremony commemorating the members of the SAS who lost their lives during World War II.

Some 400 former members of Britain's elite Special Air Services attended the ceremony at the monument to their 529 British, French and Belgian comrades in arms killed during the war.

Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth, paid homage to the "bravery and sacrifice" of the SAS soldiers which "succeeding generations will never forget."

The ceremony took place on the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Sennecy-Le-Grand by SAS units which had infiltrated behind German lines and inflicted heavy losses on a German convoy stationed in the eastern French town.

Alliot-Marie saluted the "generosity and self-sacrifice" of the soldiers who fought to return France its "sovereignty, pride and grandeur."

During World War II the SAS also had two French and a Belgian regiment.

September 11, 2004 at 03:41 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (43) | Top of page | Blog Home

When it comes to 'black work', our hands are not so clean

Telegraph | Opinion | When it comes to 'black work', our hands are not so clean

By Simon Sebag Montefiore
(Filed: 22/06/2004)

A secret policeman always reflects the country he serves and, frequently, as the popularity of the Stalin and Hitler regimes prove, the people of that country are responsible for what their secret policeman does in their name.

This week, secret policemen were in the news in ways that raise questions about repression - and us. Russia celebrated the 90th birthday of that doyen of secret policeman Yuri Andropov, Butcher of Budapest in 1956, KGB chairman for much of Brezhnev's reign, then geriatric Soviet leader, by naming a school after him and creating a series of Andropov Scholarships in the security police.

Anna Funder won the Samuel Johnson Prize for Stasiland, her book about how the Stasi dominated East Germany. And now it emerges that Abu Ghraib prison has been preserved as evidence against our secret policemen, not Saddam's.

Whatever their ghoulishly bland names, we Westerners all know our services are totally unlike the KGB or the Stasi, which were filled with depraved sadists, bloodless but bloodsoaked bureaucrats. We also gloried in the knowledge that Soviet or Nazi repression could never happen here because Englishmen (and Americans) would never do that sort of thing.

While I was researching my book on Stalin's court, reading the Bolshevik grandees' love letters and children's notes in the archives alongside their orders to kill and torture, I changed my mind.

Most were just careerists influenced by what was defined as normality in their epoch. Thinking of ruthless people in big companies who tend to do anything the company asks, I became convinced that the British and the Americans would be capable of what Stalin called "the black work". I do not believe totalitarianism could be imposed here, but, if it was, there would be no shortage of secret policemen. After all, in totalitarian states, all the hooligans work for the state.

Even in totalitarian states, things have always been more complicated. When tourists visit Russia, they are always terribly excited that the KGB might be watching them and thrilled when they discover that their driver or tour guide has some KGB connections. They never seem to realise just how utterly all-embracing the KGB was. Almost everyone had some connection to it - indeed as Anthony Glees's brilliant Stasi Files shows, just about everyone, from visiting English polytechnic lecturers to famous dissidents, was either being spied on or spying, usually both. On the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Soviet secret police, on December 21, 1937, Anastas Mikoyan, one of Stalin's magnates, declared famously: "Every citizen of the USSR should be an NKVD agent."

The secret policemen were regarded as the most elite in their leather boots, jodhpurs, leather coats with pistols. These glamour boys openly believed in torture and pitilessness: when the murderous Yezhov appeared at Stalin's cabinets, Khrushchev noticed his shirtsleeves were speckled. "Yes," boasted Yezhov, "it's the blood of an Enemy."

They legalised "Socialist methods of interrogation" - torture. Indeed, Kaganovich, a Stalinist grandee, explained later that they needed torture because all those Old Bolsheviks were tough fanatics. How were they to be interrogated otherwise?

Nor were they just thugs: the most talented and sophisticated were recruited. They, wrote Nadezhda Mandelstam, widow of the poet Osip, "were distinguished by sophisticated tastes and weakness for literature. The Chekists were the avant-garde of the New People."

Andropov was a hero to Putin's KGB generation for his sophisticated reforming style. The era of mass executions was over. He was also the mastermind of the persecution of Soviet Jews and dissidents. It is a bizarre contradiction, but an intelligent secret police chief always tends to be the first man to realise a totalitarian regime is not working. Andropov was too old and ill to reform Soviet Russia himself, but he promoted Gorbachev. The ghoulish but gifted Beria had tried to promote these very reforms after Stalin's death - and was executed for trying to destroy Soviet Communism.

We tend to hero-worship our security forces only during wartime or during the Cold War: in particular, during the Second World War, the SAS, SOE and the American OSS (precursor to the CIA). During the Cold War, we read the novels of Deighton, Fleming, Le Carr�: we knew headless bodies in Berlin canals marked the just war against Communism that was being fought on our behalf. After 1991, perhaps we no longer needed them.

Then came 9/11: our secret police were utterly unprepared for the new war against cells of fanatical suicide-bombing students living in bedsits in our cities, and secretive terrorist networks trained in Afghan camps but equally happy working on the internet.

To fight this surreal war, we needed hardness of our own to confront these fanatics. At dinner parties, people, thinking of the lives of their children, said they hoped the security services were being very tough.

When the photographs of Americans tormenting those Iraqis prisoners appeared, I felt sick. Not just at seeing torture, pain, wickedness, but at the vulgar depravity of the photographing and posing, all of which showed a cynical carelessness, sloppy discipline, horrible cruelty. But we have always silently but consensually allowed torture in our name, while disdaining systems such as Stalinist Russia that used it.

But there's a balance: there is a huge difference between using torture against terrorists who wish to attack us and kill our children and those who use it for political reasons against their own innocent people. Glued to the television, we are approaching a situation where war itself will be impossible because viewers won't be able to face the reality of bloody death, even in a just war. We still need to interrogate al-Qa'eda suspects if we want to avoid another 9/11. Yet we were never the saints we thought we were.

Simon Sebag Montefiore is the author of Stalin: the Court of the Red Tsar (2003)

� Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004

September 3, 2004 at 11:21 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (41) | Top of page | Blog Home

"Reconnaissance and Surveillance Regiment" Britain forms new special forces unit to fight al-Qa'eda

Telegraph | News | Britain forms new special forces unit to fight al-Qa'eda

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 25/07/2004)

A new special forces regiment is being created to infiltrate Islamic terrorist groups such as al-Qa'eda, The Telegraph can reveal.

The Reconnaissance and Surveillance Regiment will work closely with the Special Air Service and the Special Boat Service. Its mission will be to penetrate groups, either directly or by "turning" terrorists into double agents.

It will be given the authority to operate around the world, working closely with friendly intelligence agencies such as the CIA and Mossad.

Security chiefs hope that the regiment, comprising up to 600 troops, will run a network of agents providing the West with accurate intelligence on potential terrorist operations, allowing attacks to be foiled. It will at first be formed from members of a highly secret surveillance agency - the Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland - which has worked in Ulster for more than 20 years. The unit, which worked with the SAS, MI5 and the Special Branch, perfected the art of covert surveillance in urban and rural areas and created a network of double agents who supplied the British security forces with intelligence on terrorist attacks.

Its success stemmed from its ability to plant listening devices and cameras in the homes and cars of terrorists, to bug phones and to monitor suspects at close quarters.

Such was the secrecy surrounding the unit that few of its operations were made public. Members of the unit are, however, some of the most highly decorated men and women in the Services.

One of its successes was providing the information for the SAS operation in 1988 which led to the shooting dead of three IRA terrorists who were planning to attack British forces in Gibraltar. The unit also took part in an operation that thwarted an IRA plot to attack a police station at Loughgall, County Tyrone, in 1987. Eight IRA members were killed by the SAS in a carefully planned ambush.

Volunteers for the regiment, both male and female, will be taken from all three branches of the Armed Forces. Officers are keen to recruit those of Middle Eastern or Mediterranean appearance, as well as Muslims and members of ethnic minorities.

Recruitment has begun and volunteers must pass an intensive six-month training course, learning covert surveillance, communications, driving skills and first aid as well as close-quarter battle skills, using a variety of weapons. Priority will be given to those able to infiltrate or blend in with Islamic terror groups, rather than, as with the SAS, their fitness or fighting capabilities.

One officer said: "The SAS's role is essentially to kill people. This new regiment's role is to provide the intelligence for the SAS to do that."

Those who pass - a 90 per cent failure rate is expected - will be sent on an Arabic course at the Armed Forces language school at Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire.

The unit will be commanded by a lieutenant colonel with a special forces background, although not necessarily a member of the SAS, and will be based in South Wales. He will report to the Director of Special Forces.

A senior officer associated with the formation of the new regiment said: "This unit will be used primarily for intelligence gathering. The work will be dangerous, as it was in Northern Ireland, and operators will be taught how to protect themselves. The threat from Irish terror groups is far less now and although we will keep a presence in Ulster, it is time to use this force on a worldwide basis."

� Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004

August 7, 2004 at 08:43 PM in Reconnaissance and Surveillance Regiment, SAS, Special Reconnaissance Regiment (SRR) | Permalink | TrackBack (37) | Top of page | Blog Home

Royal Navy says sorry after Spanish arrest SBS pair

Telegraph | News | Royal Navy says sorry after Spanish arrest SBS pair

By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 02/06/2004)

Two members of the Royal Marines Special Boat Service have been arrested while driving on the Costa del Sol carrying military equipment.

The lance-corporals were driving a van along the sea-front in Malaga in the early hours when they were stopped by police officers who suspected they might be smuggling drugs.

The area is a common entry point for traffickers bringing hashish into Spain from Morocco in fast dinghies.

The officers' suspicions seemed to be correct at first because the men's van contained an inflatable semi-rigid Zodiac dinghy and two powerful outboard motors.

But the pair, who also had diving equipment and boxes marked with Royal Navy emblems, said they were members of the Royal Navy on their way to exercises in Gibraltar. They were released after being held for four hours on May 18.

Spain's press said they were going to take part in exercises featuring the nuclear submarine Trenchant.

The MoD denied the vessel was involved in the alleged exercises, saying it was making a courtesy call in Gibraltar. The Spanish interior ministry said its National Centre for Intelligence was investigating the men's presence in Spain.

Defence sources said it was unlikely that their presence was related to an exercise. British special forces routinely test routes into and from areas around the world from where British citizens might need to be evacuated.

The Royal Navy has apologised for breaking an agreement preventing British troops from moving military equipment to Gibraltar via Spain. The Ministry of Defence said it was an "administrative error" which it regretted.

August 7, 2004 at 08:41 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (17) | Top of page | Blog Home

Shake-up in Special Boat Service over claims it 'panicked and fled' in Iraq

Telegraph | News | Shake-up in Special Boat Service over claims it 'panicked and fled' in Iraq

By Thomas Harding
(Filed: 26/07/2004)

The Special Boat Service faces substantial restructuring after criticism of its performance in Iraq, with one senior SAS soldier refusing to work with the unit again because its members were "unprofessional".

The Army has transferred a number of instructors from the SAS headquarters in Hereford to the SBS to improve its fighting skills and abilities at operating behind enemy lines.

While the SBS is expert at operations at sea or close to the shore, there have been mutterings that it runs into problems in land patrols.

For the past decade sailors and marines wishing to enter the elite unit have had to pass the tough Special Air Service selection course but do not go on to the even more challenging "continuation" course in the jungle.

Instead they become highly trained in covert insertion by water, securing beachheads and protecting oil rigs and in specialised counter-terrorism to protect shipping.

Both units come under the control of the Director of Special Forces, an Army brigadier, with the SBS being deployed alongside its SAS colleagues on land since the mid-1990s.

This, according to several SAS sources, has led to problems that culminated in a debacle last April during the Iraq war in which the Iraqi Republican Guard compromised an SBS patrol.

"For the first time, they came under effective enemy fire," said a military source. "People were not impressed with their reactions. They were not at all impressed by them leaving behind their Land Rovers and kit."

According to one report, the soldiers failed to return fire and abandoned expensive equipment including their prized "Pinky" Land Rovers which were captured by the Iraqis and gleefully paraded on Arab television, much to the disgust of the SAS.

Two of the 10-man patrol had to march into Syria after missing a pick-up by Chinook helicopter at the emergency rendezvous.

"They cocked it up, panicked and did a runner," said an SAS man. "In that situation you are supposed to do a tactical withdrawal."

A senior NCO in the SAS was so unimpressed by his SBS colleagues that he has refused to serve with them in future operations because of their alleged lack of professionalism.

The comments were made earlier this year at the annual special forces debrief when all the troops make suggestions or criticisms of performances on operations.

"He stood up and said we will never work with these people again - they are totally unprofessional," said a former SAS soldier who served for nine years in the regiment.

"When an SBS representative gave their version of events in Iraq, it was interpreted as a crock of s***."

Senior military planners have now ordered a shake-up of the SBS. An Army source said: "They are going to be 'infiltrated' by Hereford to brush up on their skills, especially in close-quarter combat.

"They are far too specialised. They are great at infiltrating from water on to land but after that it gets a bit problematic."

Rivalry between the regiments developed when the SAS believed that the SBS, nicknamed the Shaky Boats, were intruding on its remit.

It is thought that the SBS has been lobbying to be granted a "30km insertion capability" that would give it access to highly sophisticated equipment.

It was also said to be after the SAS's jealously guarded "team tasks" in which they go abroad to train foreign special forces.

A former SAS soldier said: "They are expert at water ops but there is a substantial difference between land soldiering and swimming. We don't class them as soldiers, more as sailors. The SBS would hit the beach and secure it so we could go through to the business on land.

"They are like a fish out of water on land, if you'll excuse the pun. It's a different mentality. We carry everything everywhere we go; all they do is swim."

It is also believed that the SBS lacks the "close-quarter combat" experience of the SAS because it has had little experience of combat operations over the past decade.

"A lot of the regiment has seen a lot of action, with the SAS or with their own battalions, but this is sometimes not the case with the Shakies," said the SAS soldier. It has been discussed that the regiments should be amalgamated but this has been vigorously opposed by both sides.

� A special forces unit is to be formed specifically to infiltrate Islamic terrorist groups. Working closely with both the SAS and SBS, it will penetrate and gather intelligence on al-Qa'eda activists and supporters.

It will draw on expertise developed by the Joint Communications Unit Northern Ireland in combating the IRA.

August 7, 2004 at 08:38 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (106) | Top of page | Blog Home

End your rift, SAS and SBS are told

Telegraph | News | End your rift, SAS and SBS are told

By Sean Rayment Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 01/08/2004)

The head of Britain's Special Forces has ordered the commanders of the SAS and SBS to end a rift that threatens to undermine the elite units.

The Director of Special Forces, an Army brigadier, is said to have been infuriated by a newspaper report in which a former member of the Special Air Service suggested that Special Boat Service troops were incompetent and lacked courage.

The brigadier, who cannot be identified for security reasons, immediately ordered the SAS's base in Hereford to investigate the events which led to the publication of the article and identify those responsible for the allegations.

Senior officers in both organisations were said to have been stunned by the claims, which they described as "malicious lies". The report said that the SBS, which is based at Hamworthy Barracks in Poole, Dorset, faced "substantial restructuring" after intense criticism of its performance in Iraq. Most damningly, it alleged that lack of professionalism within the SBS was such that one serving SAS soldier refused to serve with them on future operations.

It said that although the SBS - which has the motto By Strength and Guile - was highly trained in covert insertion by water, securing beacheads, protecting oil rigs and maritime counter-terrorism, the unit's experience in land-based operations was limited.

Crucially the anonymous SAS member used as the source of the story also claimed that SBS volunteers did not take part in jungle training - the most arduous part of Special Forces selection. In fact, all SAS and SBS volunteers must pass this to join either regiment.

The report added that the SBS's inexperience culminated in a bungled operation in the Iraqi western desert in March 2003 when a 40-man SBS squadron was ambushed by a unit of 300 from the Republican Guard.

It quoted a former member of the SAS as saying: "They [the SBS troops] cocked it up, panicked and did a runner. For the first time they came under effective enemy fire. People were not impressed with their reactions."

The article said that SBS troops failed to return fire and abandoned expensive equipment, including their "Pinky Land Rovers" which were paraded on Iraqi television.

Officially, the SBS refused to comment on the accusations, but The Telegraph has been contacted by former members of the unit and by senior Ministry of Defence officials who have given an alternative account. They have also questioned the accuracy of other claims in the article.

A senior MoD official said: "The Director of Special Forces has made clear to the commanders of both services that accusations of cowardice will not be tolerated and that anyone attempting to discredit either the SAS or SBS - which were both formed in 1941 - only succeeds in discrediting the whole of the Special Forces Group."

A former SBS member said: "The SBS was on an operation to hunt down members of the Fedayeen [Saddam's paramilitary force], but was double-crossed by Iraqi interpreters who were working as spies. They led the SBS unit into an ambush. But far from running, the SBS squadron became engaged in a six-hour fighting withdrawal in which more than 7,000 rounds were fired.

"They suffered only one casualty, who received minor shrapnel wounds, even though they faced a force of 300 Iraqi Republican Guards armed with mortars and heavy machineguns. That contact is now officially recognised as the most ferocious Special Forces engagement of the war. The squadron commander, who was an SAS officer on secondment to the SBS, was sacked because, ultimately, someone must be blamed for the failure."

He went on: "It is galling to read that we are a bunch of incompetent cowards who have never been in action before. The SBS has spent more time on operations in Afghanistan than the SAS. An SBS trooper was awarded the George Medal for rescuing a US crewman from a Hercules transport aircraft which had crashed after refuelling, and two others were awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross for rescuing a CIA agent from Taliban.

"We have been involved in operations around the world including East Timor in 1999 and in Sierra Leone where they made up a third of the Special Forces unit which rescued British hostages in 2000."

The SBS was awarded 24 awards and commendations for its involvement in the Afghanistan war and has so far been awarded 16 for service in Iraq.

The Telegraph can reveal that the soldier who refused to work with the SBS was one of the SAS's most experienced sergeant-majors. He made his forthright comments during a briefing by senior members of the SBS to their SAS counterparts.

A few weeks later, he was attached to the SBS's M squadron for the duration of an operation and later made a full and public apology to the unit, admitting that his comments about the SBS were "out of order" and that he was "speaking rubbish". According to serving and former members of both elite groups an intense but professional rivalry has always existed between them. In recent months, however, there has been a growing sense of irritation within the SBS that many of their operations are reported as being carried out by the SAS.

The SBS, which recently had a new cap badge approved by the Queen, tends to recruit from the Royal Marines, who make up 41 per cent of Britain's Special Forces. The SAS is mainly composed of infantry soldiers. The Director of Special Forces has served as a captain with the SAS and a major with the SBS and has sought to encourage greater "cross-fertilisation" between the two units.

August 7, 2004 at 08:37 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (84) | Top of page | Blog Home

British special forces sent in to counter Olympics terror threat

Telegraph | News | British special forces sent in to counter Olympics terror threat

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 08/08/2004)

British special forces have been sent to Greece to help protect British athletes taking part in the Olympic Games.

Two six-man teams, one from each of the armed forces' elite counter-terrorist units, have been advising Greek army and navy officials on how to thwart attacks by al-Qaeda. The troops were dispatched following fears expressed by British and American security services that the terror group might try to disrupt the Games with an outrage designed to inflict mass casualties.

The Special Boat Service and the Special Air Service are believed to be the only foreign special forces units brought in by the Greeks. The two units will be in Athens throughout the Games, which open this week and end on August 29. Their operations will be co-ordinated by MI6 from the British embassy.

A team from M-Squadron of the Special Boat Service, based in Poole, Dorset, is known to have advised members of the Hellenic navy's special forces on marine counter-terrorism techniques.

The SBS, regarded as the world's best marine counter-terrorism force, is officially in Greece in an "advisory" capacity only, but The Sunday Telegraph understands that it has taken all the equipment necessary, including weapons, to thwart a terrorist attack on Piraeus, Athens's main sea port.

One of the unit's main responsibilities will be to advise the Greeks on the security of the liner, the Queen Mary 2, and eight other ships, which will between them have about 15,000 passengers embarking to watch the Games, including state dignitaries.

The Greek equivalent of the SBS, Monada Yprovrixon Kastrofon - the Greek for Underwater Destruction Unit - is believed to have received advice from its British counterparts on covert surveillance, anti-hijacking skills, diving and locating mines and booby traps.

Both units use similar selection and training techniques and, during the Gulf war, the Greeks worked closely with the British in helping to enforce a UN embargo against Iraq.

Although the security of the British athletes will be handled by British Olympic officials and the Greek authorities, a team from the SAS counter-terrorism unit from Hereford has been helping the Hellenic army with counter-terrorist strategy.

Several possible hostage-taking situations have been discussed with the Greek military. The SAS team has also been studying plans of the Olympic Village, trying to identify its security weaknesses.

British and American athletes are regarded as at the greatest risk from terrorist attack, although teams from other countries allied to Nato, or who have troops serving in Iraq, are also believed to be under threat.

A Ministry of Defence official said: "The SBS and the SAS are in Athens in a consultancy capacity. They were invited by the Greek government because of their expertise in counter-terrorism.

"They have been there for six weeks monitoring the build-up to the Olympic Games and advising the Greek authorities.

"In the unlikely event of a terrorist incident it would be up to the Greek authorities to decide whether or not they wanted to use any British assets. It is not a case of Britain offering. It would be up to the Greeks to ask. That is how these things are done."

August 7, 2004 at 08:36 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (24) | Top of page | Blog Home

FUJIMORI-CERPA, A TEST OF WILLS

ENN Peru Hostage Incident Reports; Assault Successful

By Steve Macko, ERRI Analyst
LIMA (ENN) - Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is described as the iron man in Peruvian politics. But in the match of wills between Fujimori and Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) leader Nestor Cerpa -- Fujimori may have met his match.

Peruvian psychologists are said to describe both men as stubborn, patient, egotistical and manipulative. In this battle of wills to determine the fate of 72 hostages that are still being held in the residence of the Japanese ambassador, neither Cerpa or Fujimori has blinked. And the copy of a recent psychological profile of Cerpa is said not to bode well for a peaceful end to the hostage crisis that is now into its fifth month.

In a confidential psychological profile that was dated 21 February, police psychologists said, "Cerpa will be a difficult person to negotiate with while he feels in control, but he would be totally unpredictable if he is ever put in a position of weakness."

Cerpa is still demanding the release of jailed MRTA comrades in exchange for the hostages. Negotiations between the terrorists and the Peruvian government have been stalled since 12 March.

Doctor Cesar Rodriguez, a prominent Peruvian psychologist said, "Fujimori has a very rigid and authoritarian character and in that way he and Cerpa are extremely similar. Neither man wants to blink first." The doctor added, "Cerpa feels he is more experienced and more prepared than Fujimori and that he has absolutely nothing to lose."

Raul Gonzalez, an expert on Peruvian guerrilla groups and who has written extensively about them, says, "He (Cerpa) knew how to get in, but he doesn't know how to get out. He doesn't know how to negotiate at the political level."

The police psychologists say that Cerpa is very aware of his place in history and is determined to come away from this situation as a hero -- preferably a live hero. But is willing to become a martyr for the cause should that become necessary. The police profile said of Cerpa: "He is not a person to take a step back for fear of losing ground. He's prepared to die for his beliefs."

With negotiations stalled and no hostages being released for quite some time now -- ERRI counterterrorism analysts say that the ingredients for an assault on the residence are there. It's only a matter of the Japanese government giving the Peruvian government the green light to go ahead. The Peruvian authorities are most likely chomping at the bit to launch an assault, but the residence, technically, is Japanese soil and it is not certain if Japanese officials have the will to give approval to an assault which would be, at best, considered highly risky under the current circumstances.

August 1, 2004 at 11:08 PM in SAS, Terror groups | Permalink | TrackBack (261) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS ordered into Saudi Arabia to shield embassy

Telegraph | News | SAS ordered into Saudi Arabia to shield embassy

By Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 23/06/2004)

A 25-man SAS team has been sent to Saudi Arabia to bolster security at the British embassy and plan a possible mass evacuation of foreigners, defence sources said last night.

The squad is backed by many more special forces troopers in neighbouring Qatar. This force would be summoned if the 20,000 British citizens in Saudi had to be withdrawn in a hurry.

The members of the SAS team are counter-revolutionary warfare specialists and were deployed last week.

The larger SAS force has been given diplomatic clearance by the Saudi authorities to move straight into the country should any threat develop against the embassy, which is seen as a prime target for Saudi militants linked to al-Qa'eda.

The kingdom has been shaken by a series of attacks in recent months that culminated last week in the beheading of Paul Johnson, an American expatriate worker.

The Saudi leader of the terrorists was later killed as he attempted to dispose of the body.

The deployment is the clearest sign yet that Britain is extremely worried about the worsening security situation in Saudi Arabia, despite assurances from officials that they have the whip hand over home-grown religious zealots.

This month, a television cameraman was killed and a BBC journalist, Frank Gardner, was wounded in a terrorist attack in the Saudi capital.

Two Britons were killed and 15 injured in a bomb attack on a British compound in Riyadh in May last year.

Security agencies have noted that terrorists have been able to strike even in well-protected areas, such as the Riyadh compounds and in al-Khobar, where large numbers of foreign contractors work.

There is a growing sense that al-Qa'eda poses a major threat to the Saudi regime.

"There is very serious nervousness about the situation in Saudi Arabia," one British official said.

Last night the Ministry of Defence dismissed the suggestion that the SAS were protecting the British embassy but would not deny their presence in Saudi Arabia.

The SAS troops, armed with MP5 machineguns and Glock 17 pistols, wear civilian clothes. They have been given clearance by the Saudi authorities to shoot any attacker who tries to kidnap or ambush embassy staff.

They are working closely with Saudi special forces and have surveillance equipment and hi-tech sensors.

A TEAM of Arabic-speaking intelligence officers recruited from Britain's Muslim community will help the SAS.

A senior official said they would act as "eyes and ears" for the SAS team inside the local community. "They will provide vital feedback from the streets and will give us a major foothold in the war against al-Qa'eda," he said.

MI5 and MI6 made strenuous efforts to recruit Arabic-speaking officers from within the British community after the rise of Islamic terrorism and the September 11 attacks.

A room in the embassy has been turned into an operations centre for the SAS team. A Royal Military Police close-protection team has also deployed to the embassy and will act as bodyguards for the ambassador.

Since arriving in Riyadh, the SAS team has been studying the types of target that al-Qa'eda has hit so far in an attempt to identify a pattern of operation.

Members of the team are working around the clock to ensure the safety of diplomatic staff and their families.

They are shadowing British diplomats travelling outside the embassy compound and ensuring that routes used by embassy drivers are changed daily. Anyone who leaves the embassy is offered protection.

The SAS team is making daily security assessments and briefing staff about potential threats as well as identifying weaknesses in protection at the building.

Embassy staff have been advised not to use local buses, to avoid using taxis and not to go shopping on Friday, the Muslim holy day.

Despite the reputation of the SAS, one source expressed concern about the difficulties of tracking al-Qa'eda and working out what it was planning to attack.

"We are always several steps behind them," he said. "They have the initiative because they have been preparing for so long.

"It is clear that safe houses, weapons caches and targets are all pre-determined. There is very little left to chance with these people. Their attacks are ugly but very clinical."

The team has already recommended that stronger defences, including metal mesh netting such as that used to protect police stations in Northern Ireland, be installed to protect the embassy against rocket and mortar attacks.

The Foreign Office is considering that but is reluctant to make the embassy into a fortress and is also considering proposals to move its location.

Contingency plans have already been drawn up to pull out British nationals if al-Qa'eda launches a big attack. The SAS team will be responsible for putting them into practice.

The SAS will act as a forward co-ordination cell for any emergency evacuation. Despite Foreign Office warnings that non-essential staff should leave, more than 20,000 British nationals are still in Saudi Arabia.

A key task for the SAS will be to identify assembly points in the event of an incident.

So many aircraft would be needed to fly the Britons to safety that they would initially be taken to a nearby third country to keep an air bridge free.

A team of Arabic-speaking intelligence officers recruited from Britain's Muslim community will help the SAS.

A senior official said they would act as "eyes and ears" for the SAS team inside the local community. "They will provide vital feedback from the streets and will give us a major foothold in the war against al-Qa'eda," he said.

MI5 and MI6 made strenuous efforts to recruit Arabic-speaking officers from within the British community after the rise of Islamic terrorism and the September 11 attacks.

July 19, 2004 at 08:57 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (55) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS opens up to media

This is a HUGE mistake by the British Government, and really should be re-thought. The SAS are the pride and joy of British people, and the way they can take care of a situation, and melt away into the darkness afterwards is done with such class and it generates the right amount of fear and respect with the bad guys.

MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | SAS opens up to media

Claire Cozens, press and publishing correspondent
Friday May 28, 2004

The Ministry of Defence has agreed to lift the cloak of secrecy surrounding the activities of Britain's special forces following pressure from media organisations to be more open.The Ministry of Defence has agreed to lift the cloak of secrecy surrounding the activities of Britain's special forces following pressure from media organisations to be more open.

SAS: notoriously secretive over military details

Until now, the government has operated a blanket policy of refusing to comment on any issue involving the SAS - making it extremely difficult for the media to report accurately on their activities.

But this week the MoD finally relented to media pressure, and from today the department's two most senior press officers will be allowed to provide comment and guidance - although this will be entirely at their discretion.

The government's decision to relax the rules on talking to the media follows pressure from the defence advisory notice committee, a panel of defence grandees and senior media figures set up to advise on information which, if published, might damage national security.

"The MoD has decided to change the way they operate to allow one or two press officers to talk about special forces matters. The director of news and the chief press officer will be able to comment - although this will be left to their discretion," said Rear Admiral Nick Wilkinson, the secretary of the committee.

"If they cannot say anything they will explain why," said Admiral Wilkinson, adding that it was "extremely unlikely" the press office would ever volunteer information to journalists.

The media has been pressing for a change in the MoD's "no comment" policy for years. It is one of the strictest in the western world - so stringent that when the SAS was deployed in Sierra Leone in 2000, the government refused even to acknowledge its presence in the country.

Today Admiral Wilkinson said it had become impossible for Britain to continue to say nothing to the media when their US and Australian allies were providing much more information.

"It was rather strange in Afghanistan and Iraq for British forces not to comment when their allies were," he added. "The media view was that in the modern world the 'never comment' policy was not doing the MoD any good."

The decision represents a softening in the relationship between the defence minister Geoff Hoon, who initially opposed the relaxation of the rules, and the media.

At a recent lunch with defence correspondents, Mr Hoon replied to a request for a relaxation of the rules with the words "you write guff anyway. It [more openness] will not stop you writing guff".

The Telegraph's defence correspondent Michael Smith, who attended the lunch, today described Mr Hoon's attitude as "paranoid" and said the changes were more likely to lead to the MoD press office denying negative stories than to increased clarity about the activities of the special forces.

But Smith expressed scepticism about the effectiveness of the changes.

"This is a more sensible approach than 'we never comment' which was a green light for people to write any old rubbish because no one would deny it.

"But I'd be surprised if they [the MoD] just said 'oh yes, that's true'. I think they will just rubbish occasional stories that are incorrect," he said.

"I cannot remember ever getting a major story that was damaging to the military out of the MoD press office."

May 28, 2004 at 10:09 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (69) | Top of page | Blog Home

Weary special forces quit for security jobs

Telegraph | News | Weary special forces quit for security jobs

By David Rennie in Washington and Michael Smith, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 31/03/2004)

Exhausted American and British special forces troopers, the West's front line in the war on terrorism, are resigning in record numbers and taking highly-paid jobs as private security guards in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Senior US commanders are so alarmed that they have held emergency meetings to agree new deals on pay and conditions for the men.

Men from the SAS in Britain and Australia and America's Delta Force are said to be weary after almost 30 months of nearly continuous service since the September 11 attacks.

Gen Bryan "Doug" Brown, head of the US special operations command, summoned his commanders to Washington for a crisis meeting last week. He told the Senate armed services committee that the retention of special forces had become "a big issue".

US special forces troopers earn up to �30,000 but are being offered packages of �60,000 to �120,000 to work in combat zones.

For SAS soldiers earning �250 a week in Iraq, the lure of up to �1,000 a week is easily understood. The most experienced men in the most dangerous jobs are reported to be making �5,000 a week.

The manning crisis comes as Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, pushes the military to use special forces more and more widely, favouring them over conventional forces, for their speed, small scale and ability to operate in complete secrecy with only minimal legal oversight.

Gen David Grange, a retired army Ranger, Green Beret and member of Delta Force - the elite, top-secret unit modelled on the SAS - told The Telegraph yesterday that family pressures were also taking their toll on his former colleagues.

"In my Vietnam platoon two people were married. Now it's maybe 60 per cent. Even if special forces are wild characters, with high divorce rates, there's still enormous pressure from families. They've been away more or less continuously since September 11 and wives are asking, 'Where the hell are you?' "

The war on terrorism has placed unprecedented strains on special forces. Gen Grange said: "The US army alone has people in 120 countries.

"A lot of those people are special forces - counter-drug, counter-insurgency or counter-terrorism - as well as our own insertions."

The US government is also increasingly privatising its most sensitive missions, hiring defence contractors for such tasks as guarding Paul Bremer, the Iraq occupation chief, or Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, or heading overseas to train foreign militaries.

Peter Singer, author of Corporate Warriors, a study of such privatisation, said the US defence department was the largest client for such private security contractors, paying companies large sums to supply them with former special forces whose training was paid for by US taxpayers.

Gen Grange said special bonuses were now being paid to special forces for overseas deployment and hazardous duty. But money was never the key factor for many of his comrades, he said. "In the private sector you don't have the brotherhood or the sense of duty and country."

Though many of Gen Grange's missions remain secret, he conceded that special operations offered greater excitement than private work.

"Going out to destroy something or capture or kill someone - those have to be government or military missions unless you're a mercenary or doing something illegal."

Green Berets and other special forces receive 18 months' training in combat and survival skills, including airborne and amphibious warfare, and are also required to learn at least one foreign language. They may apply only after six to eight years in the military. Army Rangers are also counted as special forces, specialising in seizing airfields and ports.

The precise number of US special forces is shrouded in secrecy, though an overall figure of between 49,000 and 66,000 is quoted for Special Operations Command.

However, Jennifer Kibbe, an intelligence specialist at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, said such large numbers included administrative and support personnel. "What they call 'trigger pullers' is more in the vein of 10,000," she said.

British officials say more than 300 soldiers have left the armed forces in the past six months to take up lucrative jobs with private companies such as Olive Security, Armour Security, Global and USDID. The problem goes beyond elite special forces. There are more than 160 British former paratroopers working in Baghdad, where the Coalition Provisional Authority has hired a battalion of Fijian soldiers to guard money deliveries to banks.

More than 500 former Gurkhas, working for Global Logistics Security, are guarding buildings for the CPA.

March 30, 2004 at 11:18 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (170) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS man tells how coup went wrong

Times Online - Sunday Times

Tom Walker

A FORMER SAS soldier languishing in a Zimbabwean jail has confessed to numerous failures in his attempt to lead a group of mercenaries in overthrowing the president of Equatorial Guinea.
In a 13-page handwritten statement, Simon Mann describes how he hoped to convince the Harare authorities to let him and his men pass through Zimbabwe.

He pretended to back a rebel army in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) that could have helped Robert Mugabe, the Zimbabwean leader, to secure diamond rights for his bankrupt regime. The operation would have been a smokescreen: after dumping off arms for the rebels, Mann and his fighters would have flown on to their real target, oil-rich Equatorial Guinea.

The operation, launched on March 7, foundered when the Zimbabwean authorities impounded Mann�s plane after it landed at Harare airport to pick up weapons. Mann and 69 men, mainly South Africans, Angolans and Namibians, were last week charged with conspiring to overthrow Teodoro Obiang Nguema, the president of Equatorial Guinea. They face life imprisonment if found guilty.

In his statement Mann says that he was introduced early last year to Severo Moto, a prominent Equatorial Guinean opposition leader exiled in Madrid. If Moto returned, �there would be an uprising of military and civilians� against Nguema, he says.

Mann, 46, writes that he ordered weapons from Zimbabwe Defence Industries in January: �Naively, I believed that by dealing with ZDI I was dealing with a high level and would be �covered�.�

However, he encountered a string of misfortunes, including a bird strike to the engine of his Russian Antonov 12. When the rebels he was pretending to help failed to secure an airstrip at Kolwezi, in southern DRC, as planned, the operation was postponed.

By mid-February he was planning another run but this ended in the group�s arrest.Mann, an old Etonian, insists he was not working with the connivance of western intelligence, as has been alleged.

March 27, 2004 at 11:04 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (44) | Top of page | Blog Home

'Mercenaries' in Harare charged with murder plot

From Jan Raath in Harare

ZIMBABWEAN Government lawyers sprang a surprise yesterday on the 70 men arrested over an alleged attempt to stage a coup in Equatorial Guinea and charged them with plotting to murder the country's President, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.

The new allegations came as an apparent afterthought and were announced to the prisoners, including Simon Mann, a former British SAS officer, in Chikurubi prison outside Harare. On Monday they were formally charged over the illegal purchase of weapons and for violating immigration regulations when they flew into Harare on Sunday last week.

All 70 are to appear in court today, Jonathan Samkange, one of their lawyers, said.

The Government has been struggling for more than a week to find what it believes will be appropriate legislation to deal with the 70 men, other than with what are offences classed almost as misdemeanours under firearms control and immigration laws. The group charged with the murder plot includes an advance party of three, the 64 men on board the Boeing 727 that flew to Harare from South Africa, as well as the crew of three. They were arrested shortly after landing at Harare international airport.

Zimbabwe and Equatorial Guinea say that the men were about to load up a consignment of AK47 rifles, light machineguns, pistols, rocket-launchers, mortars and hand grenades allegedly bought in Zimbabwe by Mr Mann, and then planned to fly on to the oil-rich West African country and overthrow President Mbasogo.

President Mugabe�s Government appears determined to deliver what Stanislaus Mudenge, the Foreign Minister, said last week would be �the severest punishment in our statutes, including capital punishment�.

�It�s very original,� one lawyer said, �but the State is going to have great difficulty with jurisdiction over the conspiracy that appears to have taken place in so many countries.�

Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.
This service is provided on Times Newspapers' standard Terms and Conditions . Please read our Privacy Policy . To inquire about a licence to reproduce material from The Times, visit the Syndication website .

March 21, 2004 at 10:00 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (27) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS joins hunt for Osama

Telegraph | News | SAS joins hunt for Osama

By Michael Smith and Peter Foster
(Filed: 20/03/2004)
Britain has sent 100 SAS soldiers to Afghanistan and the Americans have asked it to send hundreds more elite troops to support an intensified push to capture Osama bin Laden, defence sources said yesterday.
The SAS force was seen passing through Bagram air base, north of Kabul.

An official at the base, the headquarters of allied special forces in Afghanistan, said it was on its way to the mountainous border with Pakistan to take part in Operation Mountain Storm against al-Qa'eda and Taliban militants.

Defence chiefs are considering the request to send paratroops or commandos to reinforce the American and British special forces hunting bin Laden, the head of al-Qa'eda, and his lieutenants, the defence sources said.

President George W Bush has launched an all-out attempt to capture him by May, partly motivated by a desire to ensure that the election campaign is not dominated by the failure to avenge September 11.

He said yesterday that there could be "no neutral ground" in the war on terrorism. He urged the international community to forget differences over the war in Iraq and unite against terrorism.

News of the British deployment was given as 7,000 Pakistani troops on the other side of the border launched a fresh offensive to close in on a suspected senior al-Qa'eda leader, reported to be Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's deputy. They were backed by helicopter gunships and US intelligence teams.

Major-Gen Shaukat Sultan, of the Pakistan army, said that as many as 400 militants could be holed up in a cluster of tribal villages around Wana, the capital of the South Waziristan province, and he intended to capture them "dead or alive".

Both sides used heavy artillery and some reports suggested that 30,000 civilians had fled the area.

American reconnaissance aircraft, including Predator unmanned craft and U2 spy planes, have been helping Pakistani troops.

British intelligence officials were unable to confirm that Zawahri was among the trapped al-Qa'eda fighters.

"It certainly looks as if there is someone important there," one said. "But no one knows for sure who it is."

America has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to the capture of Zawahri, who is regarded as the architect of the al-Qa'eda terrorist ideology. This week Congress doubled the award for bin Laden to $50 million.

The American and British special forces teams, part of Task Force 121 that captured Saddam Hussein, are deployed along the Afghan side of the border.

Their task is to root out militants and to capture those fleeing the Pakistani operation.

They are backed by American and Afghan infantry. Gen Atiqullah Ludin, a senior Afghan commander, said the US and Afghan troops were enforcing tight security.

"Al-Qa'eda cannot escape or enter Afghan soil," he said.

Other Afghan commanders said that a major offensive in the south of the country had resulted in the capture of a number of "semi-senior" terrorist leaders. "In recent days, there have been arrests," one said.

"Some of the arrests have included semi-senior leadership within the terrorist elements on the Afghan side, possibly with strong links to al-Qa'eda."

It was unclear whether the terrorists were caught while fleeing the fighting in Pakistan. But a spokesman for the American forces who have poured into the region as part of Mountain Storm played down the seniority of those captured, suggesting that they were middle-ranking members of the Taliban.

Last night, in perhaps the first concrete sign that the Taliban were feeling the pressure of the offensive, they issued a defiant statement on the Arabic television station Al Jazeera.

"We will carry out more attacks against international coalition forces if they continue to chase us," a spokesman said - although the militants later denied making any threat.

The Ministry of Defence said it had no information on any reinforcements for Afghanistan.

The Army is already under great pressure. It has nearly 9,000 troops deployed in Iraq and is reinforcing its presence in Kosovo to try to put an end to the renewed fighting between Serbs and ethnic Albanians.

March 20, 2004 at 10:21 AM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (79) | Top of page | Blog Home

Health warnings in SAS study

The Australian: Health warnings in SAS study [March 09, 2004]

By Max Blenkin
March 09, 2004
MEMBERS of the elite Special Air Service (SAS) were exposed to lead, teargas and explosions in training, and experienced high levels of physical trauma and stress, a study has found.

It says the SAS training environment could lead to potential adverse health effects and some members of the SAS may have been exposed to asbestos during exercises.

The study, conducted by an expert panel headed by the chairman of the Repatriation Medical Authority Professor Ken Donald, concludes that actual levels of exposure of individuals to these chemicals could not be determined.

"Nevertheless, the panel was able to determine that the SAS training environment involved a range of exposures that can lead to potential adverse health effects," the study says.

"In particular, development of the counter-terrorist capacity of the SAS in the late 1970s and early 1980s involved the development of new skills and expertise, which brought exposure to risks associated with experimentation and intense periods of enhanced hazard."

The study finds SAS personnel encountered lead on indoor firing ranges, high levels of teargas, coloured smoke and masking agents as well as explosions and high levels of physical trauma and stress.

In some training environments, they may have been exposed to asbestos.

The study was launched in 2002 after SAS veterans expressed concern that their arduous and realistic training caused long-lasting health problems.

Veterans Affairs Minister Danna Vale said the Government had agreed to adopt all 14 of the report recommendations.

"The report has confirmed that SAS members are exposed to a level of health risk reflecting both defence service generally and the specialised nature of SAS training," she said.

"The panel found that most of these potential health exposures are covered by the existing compensation principles of the repatriation system. In a small number of cases, the panel recommended revision of the existing arrangements. The Government accepts all of the panel's findings."

Defence Personnel Minister Mal Brough said the Defence and Veterans Affairs Departments would work co-operatively to address the panel findings.

"Many of the issues raised by the panel are already being addressed through the Occupational Health and Safety strategy that is being be implemented across Defence," he said.

"In accepting and acting on these findings, the Australian Government maintains its commitment to meeting the health and safety needs of all defence personnel."

Mr Brough said key responses to the panel's findings would involve continued development of transition management services for ADF members receiving a medical discharge plus long-term monitoring of the types and levels of exposure to different stresses during military service.

privacy � The Australian

March 11, 2004 at 08:18 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (27) | Top of page | Blog Home

Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries'

Telegraph | News | Harare accuses ex-SAS man of links to detained 'mercenaries'

By Tim Butcher in Johannesburg and Peta Thornycroft in Harare
(Filed: 10/03/2004)

Zimbabwe yesterday accused a former SAS officer from Britain of being involved with an aircraft detained at Harare airport allegedly carrying military equipment and 64 "suspected mercenaries".

Kembo Mohadi, Zimbabwe's home affairs minister, alleged that Simon Mann, a former SAS officer living in Cape Town, where he is in the security business, had travelled earlier to Zimbabwe and went to Harare airport to meet the aircraft.

But when the authorities searched the aircraft it was found to have filed an incorrect passenger list and to be carrying what Mr Mohadi described as "military materiel".

While there is no suggestion of any attempt to destabilise Robert Mugabe's regime the incident will be treated as a PR coup by his government and an acute embarrassment for Britain. Mr Mugabe has repeatedly said MI6 and British security services are operating in Zimbabwe.

Although Mr Mann has long been retired from the British Army he remains connected with the world of security consultants.

It is not known whether he was detained, although Mr Mohadi said the 64 "suspected mercenaries" were led by a "known mercenary", Simon Witherspoon, a white South African.

Mr Mohadi claimed that of the 64 men from the seized aircraft 20 were South Africans, 18 Namibians, 23 Angolans, two Congolese and one a Zimbabwean using a South African passport.

The ultimate destination of the aircraft remained unclear last night, although the tiny oil-rich African country of Equatorial Guinea yesterday said it had arrested 15 suspected mercenaries which it claimed were connected with the 64-strong group.

But another version was that the men were part of a security company contracted to provide perimeter security for mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo and had stopped in Zimbabwe for supplies.

Agustin Nse Nfumu, information minister in Equatorial Guinea, said the 15 were an advance party for the group arrested on Sunday night when a US-registered charter plane was impounded at Harare International Airport.

Rumours have been circulating in Malabo, capital of the former Spanish colony, about an imminent coup and Mr Nfumu alleged that the men were part of a plot to remove President Teodoro Obiang. He has been in power since a bloody coup in 1979.

Control of Equatorial Guinea has become more important in the last decade since vast oil reserves were found in its off-shore waters. It is the third largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Angola, producing 350,000 barrels a day.

While there was no independent confirmation of the claims, a diplomatic source in America gave them some credence, saying the aircraft landed in Zimbabwe to collect weapons produced by Zimbabwe Defence Industries.

ZDI is run by Tshinga Dube, a close associate of President Mugabe, and is one of several Zimbabwean companies which are the subject of strict economic sanctions by the United States.

The source said an apparent breakdown in communication among the elite who run Harare airport led to the aircraft being impounded once an irregularity was found in its manifest.

Mr Nfumu said the 15 detainees included white South Africans, black South Africans of Angolan origin, a German and others from Kazakhstan and Armenia who had been in Equatorial Guinea since December.

"Some 15 mercenaries have been arrested here . . . and it was connected with that plane in Zimbabwe," he said.

"They were the advance party of that group."

March 11, 2004 at 07:44 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (105) | Top of page | Blog Home

Operation certain death

When the SAS was told to rescue British soldiers in Sierra Leone, the odds were so high that the top brass warned of a possible disaster. Damien Lewis reveals how they triumphed

Nosing their inflatables up yet another vast sandbank, the SAS men gathered in the darkness. They were exhausted, soaked to the skin, covered in mud from the river and eaten alive by mosquitoes. The boat trip was clearly over. It was time to say goodbye.
The inflatables disappeared into the night, leaving 10 men behind. They were the advance party of one of the most hazardous rescues in the history of the SAS.

It was August 2000. Eleven soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment had been kidnapped by Sierra Leonean rebels known as the West Side Boys. UK special forces commanders had been told to prepare a plan to free them.

The first move was to dispatch these 10 observers to spy on the rebels� jungle camp at Gberi Bana about 30 miles up a river called Rokel Creek from Freetown, Sierra Leone�s capital.

The SAS men now trekked for five miles through the jungle on extreme �hard routine�, carrying their weapons, their communications equipment, specialist spying gear and food. They had waterproof bivvy bags, but not for sleeping in; they were for emergency use if a man was ill or injured.

They had only the clothes they stood up in. Ultimately each man would take on the musky scent of an animal. They would eat cold food, chocolate, sweets and dried fruit. They would urinate into bottles, defecate into plastic bags, and stow them in their bergens.

They approached the rebel base just before first light. The final 200 yards turned out to be so impenetrable that they were forced to lie up with no sight of the village. They searched for the most uninviting and thorny thicket they could find and crawled into it. This was home for the next few days.

By mid-morning they were able to radio Waterloo camp, the British special forces base outside Freetown, Sierra Leone�s capital, with the bad news that the terrain was totally unsuited to a covert overland assault. Nor had a river assault any chance of succeeding. And the landing zone picked from satellite photos for a helicopter attack had turned out to be a vast swamp.

It was to be Operation Certain Death then, as the men had started calling the only remaining option: putting an assault team on helicopters and flying them right into the heart of the rebel camp.

This was a plan born of desperation: roaring into the target, dropping down by rope and rescuing the hostages before the well-armed and much larger force of rebels carried out a threat to kill them.

Flying in on choppers and fast-roping onto the target were tactics that had gone badly wrong for US special forces in Mogadishu in the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993. None of the men assembled at Waterloo camp had forgotten the naked corpses of American soldiers hauled through the streets by a victorious Somali mob.

If this operation went pear-shaped � and there was every possibility it might � it would be a disaster for Tony Blair�s government.

The prime minister was receiving daily briefings. Mission assessment was that in the worst-case scenario they would have to be willing to lose half an SAS squadron and a helicopter crew. In other words, 40-odd members of the special forces, Britain�s finest, could die.

Yet a decision had already been taken that the hostages had to be rescued, at any cost. If the men of the assault force ended up paying a heavy price for that freedom, then so be it.

There was now a real prospect that the hostage crisis could rally Sierra Leone�s various rebel factions into a force that would beat the best the British military had to throw at them.

This would give the Libyan-backed, Al-Qaeda-financed rebel coalition a real opportunity to succeed in their avowed aim of �doing a Somalia� on British forces in Sierra Leone.

COLONEL GS was in a rage. Walking down the line of British hostages, he jabbed each of them hard in the chest, spitting out a number from one to 11.

�Kneel,� he yelled in Creole. �Go get down on your knees. You know what the numbers are for? That is the order in which we go start kill you. One for each hour the deadline no go met for our demands.�

It was day four of the crisis, and the West Side Boys were frustrated by the lack of response from Britain. One of their leaders, Colonel GS (for general staff) was taking his anger out on the hostages.

�Go na fetch my gun,� he barked at a boy soldier called Movement. The boy came hurrying back with an ancient but well-used AK-47 assault rifle. GS cocked it, patting it lovingly.

The hostages found themselves praying: �Our Father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come . . .�

�Which of these your men is actually stupid enough to believe that there is a God?� GS asked their commander, Major Alex Martial.

�We all are, colonel. Every man under my command believes there is a God.�

�Which of you really believe it enough to admit it and die?� Slowly and deliberately, Martial raised his hand. �I do, colonel.�

There was a moment�s deathly silence. Then Captain Ed Flaherty, Martial�s second in command, raised his arm. So did Sergeant Mickey Smith, and within the space of a few seconds all the British soldiers had raised their hands. F*** it, they thought. The major had always said it would be all of them or none of them. They�d stick together, even if this was the end.

�Say the prayers, then, whiteboys,� the colonel sneered. �You go have less than one hour left. We go see if this your God can save you now. Think about it. One hour. And then I go start the shooting.�

The kneeling men asked themselves what Martial was going to do. One of the youngest majors in the British Army, he was the only hostage with special forces training. In the hours after the ambush of his convoy on a jungle road, his �conduct after capture� training had kicked into gear. He had made detailed mental notes of rebel weapons positions and fortifications with a view to escape. But he also behaved in a way that his training would have taught him not to.

Classic conduct after capture doctrine is that the quiet, unnoticed individual is the last person a captor might think of executing. Yet the major deliberately offered himself up as the focus of the rebels� anger and violence.

Now, Martial spoke up: �Excuse me, colonel, but we have a tradition in England that a man who�s about to die is granted a last request. If you�re agreeable, I�d ask you to share a last drink with us.�

The hostages barely dared breathe. They were half expecting the colonel to grab his gun and shoot the major. Instead, an evil grin spread across his face.

�I like your idea,� he purred. �A dying man�s last drink. Movement, go na fetch some drinks. The English men they want to go get drunk with us before we go kill them.�

Movement returned with plastic jerrycans of palm wine, a slimy, milky-white liquid generally full of dead insects. It is mildly alcoholic and tastes nauseating.

�Drink!� the colonel ordered.

Martial took a pull. �Not quite Guinness,� he said, �but not bad.�

The palm wine went down the line, followed by cartons marked rum, gin and whisky, each containing the same gut-wrenching liquid.

Ten minutes passed. A crowd of rebels gathered to join in the binge. Two of them chopped up cannabis and passed round joints. Others heated up heroin or crack cocaine.

The hour deadline came and went. Soon 30 or more West Side Boys were joining the party. There was no more talk of execution.

�Jesus, but that was a blinding move, sir,� Ranger Sandy Gaunt told the major as they crept away to their hut, leaving the Boys to party on through the night.

Next day Martial was even more of a hero in this young man�s eyes. The major was taken to meet two hostage negotiators who had flown in from London. He returned with news that some of the hostages would be exchanged for a satellite phone, which the rebels wanted so they could talk to the BBC. Martial said that the youngest and most junior of his men should be released � Gaunt and three other Rangers, the lowest rank in the regiment.

�Bloody A, sir,� enthused Gaunt.

When the news came that the satphone had been delivered, the four Rangers scrambled to get their kit together. They were heading home. Then the major spoke up.

�Hang on a minute,� he said quietly. There had been a change of plan. Five men were being freed, but they were the older and more senior hostages. He was sorry, but he had decided to favour married men �with wives and kids and families�. The young Rangers couldn�t believe their ears.

�What the f***! No way, sir!� �Sir, youse it was who said it was the juniors . . .�

�We�ve all of us got families, sir . . .�

The four young men slumped onto the floor. Burn in shame, they thought bitterly. Burn in shame.

They watched the lucky ones file down to the canoe that was waiting to carry them to safety. Martial also went to the riverside, but he came striding back with the news that the rebels would not let two of the married men go: they were signallers needed for negotiations.

�Quickly, before the bloody boat leaves,� he urged the young men, �get your names scribbled down on to a scrap of paper. The first two pulled out of a hat get to go.�

Gaunt lost the draw. So did his mate Gavin Rowell. They had been friends since boyhood in east Belfast. Now they would share whatever fate awaited them.

TWO mornings later, the major again showed his quixotic courage. The rebels� self-styled camp commandant � a former mental patient dubbed �Calm Down Fresh� by the hostages, as that was what his wife said to pacify him � ordered Martial to speak to the BBC on the satphone to assure the world the hostages were all right.

He refused, to his men�s dismay.

�Just speak on it, sir,� Gaunt pleaded.

�Please, sir, he�s not f****** around,� Rowell urged. �Just say a few words on the phone, sir.�

�Go on, sir. Go on.�

�I can�t, lads. I have to let them know that something�s wrong.�

�Come on, sir, surely it can�t do no harm.�

�I�m sorry, lads. We have to get the right sort of message out. Things are in a bad way right now. This is the only way I can think of doing it.�

Calm Down Fresh flew into a rage. He ordered the hostages to strip to their underwear and kneel.

A mob quickly gathered, and a savage free-for-all began as it bore down on the kneeling men. Women tore at the men�s hair. One grabbed a Ranger by his testicles and began to scream obscenities.

Enveloped in sweating bodies, the soldiers went down under the blows. All except Martial, who refused to buckle. Boots, fists and rifle butts rained down on him. Finally, he keeled over on to the ground, where the frenzied mob continued to kick and beat him.

Calm Down Fresh danced about, screaming: �Refuse to speak to the BBC! Refuse to speak to the BBC!� The mob discussed raping the men before killing them.

The uproar had not gone unnoticed. Hidden 200 yards away, a Mancunian giant with the nickname of Mat was operating a dish-like SAS listening device similar to a satellite television aerial.

He could not see what was happening, but he had heard the shrieks of �Refuse to speak to the BBC!�, and he now detected a small group of rebels heading out of the village. By the sound of things, they had at least one of the soldiers with them. Mat could make out the flip-flop of the rebels� sandals, and the heavier thud of a set of boots. They were ordering their captive to kneel.

�I think the bastards are about to top one of our boys,� Mat reported urgently. He tensed himself for a gunshot and the sound of a body hitting the ground. �I can hear a gun being cocked now. Sounds like an AK. One of the bastards is saying he�s going to shoot him. No response from the hostage. Hold on! The bastard�s just pulled the trigger � with no round up the spout. Mock execution. They�re all pissing themselves laughing.�

Mat heard the rebels call for Foday Kallay, the leader of the West Side Boys. But who was the prisoner? �Hold on � it�s Major Martial. I can hear it�s him � he�s started talking to Kallay now. �Came to see you to tell you to stop all the fighting,� he�s saying. �Didn�t come with any bad intentions. If you kill us, it will be for no reason. Won�t do you any good. Spare the hostages� lives, and I can get the British to start giving you what you want. If you kill us, they will know about it very quickly. Give me three or four days. That�s all I ask. But you have to let me talk directly to the British hostage team.�

�Now Kallay�s replying. �All right. But we need to see some of the things we are asking for being given. Need to know the British are serious. Otherwise . . .�

�Kallay�s ordering them to take the major back inside now. That was a close one. The major sounds on good form, though. Voice firm. Not shaking. Wasn�t begging, either. Just reasoning with them.�

Mat�s account had an electrifying effect when it reached British commanders. That night they moved to within a hair�s breadth of ordering the assault. It would only take one more move by the West Side Boys to trigger the rescue. There were two. When the rebels brought along three decapitated heads on poles (including a baby girl�s) to a hostage negotiation meeting, the British team began to realise that talking to such depraved people was pointless.

Then on Friday September 8, day 15 of the crisis, Mat and the SAS observation team overheard a large group of rebels preparing to seize the hostage negotiators and take more British prisoners. The negotiators were already approaching a meeting with the rebels when they got the warning. They could see the Boys were well armed and far more numerous than usual. They hurriedly turned back. An urgent message was sent to the British military�s Permanent Joint headquarters (PJHQ) in London and on to the prime minister in New York, where he was attending a United Nations summit. Within hours the message came back from Blair: proceed with the attack.

The following evening at Waterloo camp, the commander of D Squadron SAS told his men they would be going in with a force from the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) before dawn. �And, gentlemen,� he said, �Her Majesty�s government has made it very clear: you are to give those bastards a bloody nose.�

The men headed for the cookhouse tent before bed. With only hours to go there were now some troubling last-minute thoughts. How would they feel about shooting the many child-soldiers among the rebels, no older than their own kids? And would they survive an attack against such heavy odds?

Lance-Corporal Brad Tinnion wrote a letter home. He had hardly had time to say goodbye to Anna, his girlfriend, before leaving SAS headquarters at Hereford. He was looking forward to seeing their new baby on his return.

Very early the next morning, Sunday September 10, the hostages were asleep in their night quarters: a locked room in Calm Down Fresh�s single-storey house. They were jerked awake in the grey pre-dawn light by the faint throb of rotor blades reaching them on the chill jungle air. �Any of youse hear what I hear?� Gaunt croaked.

�Choppers,� came a muttered reply.

�Who d�you think it is?�

�Keep it down, lads,� the major hissed under his breath. �It sounds like helis coming upriver. More than one, that�s for sure. �

�But who is it, sir?� Gaunt hissed back, with rising panic. �The f****** UN?�

A few days previously, the West Side Boys had attacked a UN base manned by Nigerian peacekeepers. Was this a revenge attack? The noise grew louder but then gradually faded away.

�Maybe it was the UN, and they sort of lost their bottle, like,� Gaunt whispered. The six men settled again. But no sooner had they put their heads down than the noise returned.

�They�re coming back in again, and f****** fast this time.� A chopper roared in low. Suddenly all hell broke loose as heavy machineguns chewed into the village. The soldiers pressed their faces down into the dirt floor, their hands over their heads. �F*** off out of here, why don�t youse just f*** off!�

Rowell screamed, his voice all but lost in the ear-splitting roar of gunfire. There was a deafening sound of tearing metal and splintering wood above them as the downdraught from a Chinook ripped the roof off the house. The soldiers cringed deeper into the dirt. Now they could hear the distinct crack-crack-crack of gunshots inside the house, very close to them. A boot smashed at their door. Oh, shite. Were the Boys about to burst into the room with murder in their eyes? There was a sharp splintering of wood as the door caved in. Martial yelled: �British soldiers! British soldiers! British soldiers!� The figure silhouetted in the doorway shouted back: �British Army! British Army! Stay down! Stay down! Stay on the floor.�

He took a step into the room and asked in a voice straining over the din of battle: �Are you all here?� �All six British,� the major replied. �All except the Sierra Leonean, Corporal Mousa.� Mousa was a local soldier who had been kidnapped with them, but he had been separated from them and forced to endure his own horror, tied up in a pit of water. Martial had whispered encouragement to him whenever he could get near. He was now lying in his bindings behind Foday Kallay�s house.

�Where the hell is your Corporal Mousa, then?� �Out the front door. Turn left. Large white building.� �Right. Stay down. And here, take this,� the man ordered, handing the major a pistol. �But no heroics. Only use it if you have to. And if you see any of our guys, keep it hidden. You don�t want to be seen with a weapon, okay? Now, I�ll be back in a jiffy with your Mousa.�

It was not so simple. The trussed-up Mousa had woken to the noise of the air armada. As the noise grew louder, he could hear Kallay raging. Kill all the hostages. �Kill, kill, kill � kill them all!�

Half a dozen men under the command of a rebel called Mr Die rushed off to the hostage house just as the sky exploded with gunfire, chewing up Kallay�s house. There was a screeching sound as the roof was ripped off and came crashing down on top of Mousa. He lay there for what felt like 15 minutes, listening to the Chinooks raining down death from above. Then he had heard the choppers withdrawing and Mousa thought the British attack had failed. Convinced that he would be executed, the corporal struggled to free himself. He got his hands behind his back up against a piece of torn galvanised roofing, and began to saw painfully on the ropes binding him. �Mousa! Mousa!�

He could hear shouts getting nearer. Were the West Side Boys trying to find him so they could kill him?

�Mousa! Mousa!� They were British voices.

�Yes, I�m here! British soldier! Mousa is here!� There was a tearing at the galvanised sheeting above him.

�Don�t move or I shoot!�

A soldier towered above him, his white face daubed in black and green warpaint, his eyes raw red with aggression. He stuck his gun in Mousa�s face and shone a powerful torch beam in the corporal�s eyes.

�Right. What�s your f****** name!�

�It�s Mousa. Don�t shoot. It�s me, Mousa.�

The soldier lifted Mousa by the scruff of the neck.

�Again! What�s your name?�

�Mousa. I�m Mousa . . . I�m Corporal Mousa. I . . . I�m one of the hostages.�

�All right, corporal, on your legs and follow me. And look smart now. I�m not f****** waiting.�

�I . . . I can�t move . . . My legs . . . my arms . . . I can�t move.� Crouching down, the soldier looked closer. �Jesus, the evil bastards. They�ve given you a hard time, haven�t they, mate?�

Taking a knife from his belt, he sliced through the ropes. Then he lifted Mousa up, slung him over his shoulder, resting the corporal�s weight on his bergen and an anti-tank rocket strapped to it, and grabbed his machinegun with his free hand.

�Geordie,� he yelled to another soldier, �cover me, mate.�

And he set off at a run with Mousa on his shoulders, Geordie putting down covering fire. As Mousa was carried the 40-odd yards to the hostage house, he saw rebel bodies scattered in the long grass. A quick crack-crack-crack from Geordie�s gun and Mousa saw another of the rebels go down. These guys are good, he thought to himself. Each time they fire they find a target. Suddenly the British hostages were all around Mousa, embracing him. �It�s all over,� said the grinning major. �Time to be happy.�

IT WAS not all over for the SAS, however. The rebel gunfire was too inaccurate to be very effective, but even stray bullets could kill. As the rebels counterattacked, one of these rounds hit Brad Tinnion in the leg and the bullet slewed off the bone up into his body. He had taken cover like the rest of his fire team, but the round struck him from behind. It must have been a ricochet. Shock affects the wounded in different ways, and at first Tinnion seemed alert and was able to talk. Within minutes, a Chinook pilot braved direct hits from rebel gunfire to evacuate him. But halfway to the Sir Percival, a hospital ship docked at Freetown, Tinnion told the special force paramedic tending him: �I�m f*****, mate . . . I just felt one lung collapse. I�m a gonner.� Tinnion knew what he was saying; he was his team�s medical specialist.

He left a message of love for Anna before passing out, and he died later that morning on the medical deck of the Sir Percival. It was 10.45am by the time the British helicopters lifted off from Gberi Bana with the last of the assault force on board � leaving behind a gutted, deserted camp.

Tinnion was the only special forces soldier to die; but another nine were seriously wounded and almost all the 70-odd men taking part in the attack on Gberi Bana suffered minor wounds from stray battlefield ordnance. There were also nine badly hurt among a paratroop force that had carried out a diversionary attack on another rebel camp across the river. There were consolations, however, as D Squadron�s commander told his men after the battle. He expected the final casualty figure on the enemy side at Gberi Bana to be more than 100 dead. And �the paras may have accounted for a similar number� in their separate battle.

Many of the rebels had been finished off at close range, and there were women and children among the dead. D Squadron had cleared up the bodies, because headquarters didn�t want the press crawling all over the village after the assault, recording what they�d been up to. If the SAS had been carrying out the same sort of operation in the centre of London � like the Iranian embassy siege had been � they would have faced all sorts of forensic questions afterwards.

But nobody was going to be brought to book for what they had done in Gberi Bana. As one member of D Squadron put it: �We�d been sent in to eliminate a rebel base in the morning. That�s what we did. And we were back in time for tea in Hereford by the next evening.�

� Damien Lewis 2004 Extracted from Operation Certain Death by Damien Lewis published by Century at �17.99. Copies can be ordered for �14.39 + �2.25 p&p from The Sunday Times Books First on 0870 165 8585 or at www.timesonline.co.uk/booksfirstbuy
Copyright 2004 Times Newspapers Ltd.

March 10, 2004 at 10:34 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (69) | Top of page | Blog Home

SAS creates a new squadron to counter threat from al-Qa'eda

Telegraph | News | SAS creates a new squadron to counter threat from al-Qa'eda

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
(Filed: 07/03/2004)

The Special Air Service, Britain's elite fighting force, is to be increased in size for the first time in more than 50 years, the Telegraph can reveal.

The 400-strong unit, which is based in Hereford, will be ordered to recruit an additional 60 to 80 members over the next five years to create a fifth sabre squadron capable of deploying on operations.

The decision represents a significant escalation in Britain's efforts to combat al-Qa'eda and other Islamic terrorists. It follows a warning from defence chiefs that Britain's special forces are struggling to cope with the number of operations that they are being asked to carry out around the world.

As well as operating in Afghanistan and Iraq, the special forces are also required to have teams on permanent standby for counter-terrorist operations in the United Kingdom. They also take part in a significant number of Foreign Office sponsored "exercises" in friendly countries around the world.

Since the al-Qa'eda attrocities of September 11, 2001, the SAS and its Royal Navy equivalent, the Special Boat Service, both of which come under the control of the Director of Special Forces, an Army brigadier, have been on permanent operational deployments.

The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the continuing hunt for Osama bin Laden have only been achieved by using volunteers from the regiment's territorial battalions, 21 and 23 SAS.

The expansion has been made possible by the announcement last July by Geoff Hoon, the Defence Secretary, of a �1.5 billion funding increase for the special forces.

Previously, one of the main hurdles to increasing the size of the SAS was the potential cost. Man for man, the regiment is the most expensive in the British Army with an annual budget that runs to hundreds of millions of pounds.

Until now, the SAS has resisted expansion attempts, claiming that it would ultimately lead to a "dilution of excellence" and undermine its operational effectiveness.

Of the thousands of soldiers who volunteer to serve with the regiment every year, only between 10 to 15 are accepted.

One former squadron sergeant major expressed his concerns, saying: "The SAS is the regiment it is because it is highly selective and refuses to compromise on its standards. Change that system and you change the regiment.

"If it is being over-tasked, then it is up to either the Government or senior officers to prioritise what they want the regiment to do."

Another former SAS officer insisted, however, that standards could be maintained. "Not everyone in the regiment is signed up to the rationale that recruiting can only be increased if standards are lowered," he said.

"There is a growing acceptance that the size of the special forces can be increased by micro-changes to the selection process, such as giving the benefit of the doubt to a few exceptional candidates.

"Most in this bracket could have successful careers in the regiment, but are never given the chance."

The expansion comes at a time when the SAS is examining its military ethos. The SAS's raison d'etre since its creation in 1941 has been to conduct small, covert operations against strategic, high-value targets.

Although that philosophy still holds true today, the regiment has been used to conduct an increasing number of conventional rather than special operations, which many within the regiment believe is a misuse of a valuable resource.

The most notable of these was during an operation against the Taliban in Afghanistan when a squadron of the SAS was used to attack a joint al-Qa'eda/ Taliban camp.

After the battle, the SAS squadron commander famously declared that an infantry company "could have done it better".

The move to expand the SAS follows a similar recruiting drive undertaken by the US military, which is planning to increase the size of its special forces to counter the growing threat from terrorist organisations that are based in Iraq.

Frances Fragos, the US Deputy national security adviser, said recently: "The special operations community represents the future of fighting. We will use them more, not less, as we go into the future."

March 8, 2004 at 07:07 PM in Al Qaeda, SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (50) | Top of page | Blog Home

North Korean heroin ship is seized by SAS

Telegraph | News | North Korean heroin ship is seized by SAS

By Barbie Dutter in Sydney
(Filed: 21/04/2003)

Australian SAS tracking an international drug smuggling syndicate raided a North Korean ship in a dramatic dawn operation off the Australian coast yesterday, following a four-day chase in treacherous seas.

SAS troops and commandos were dropped by helicopter while a naval boarding party clambered up the hull of the Pong Su 35 miles off New South Wales.

The 4,000-ton ship had been shadowed since last Wednesday when 110lb of heroin, worth an estimated �30 million, was seized and four men arrested, in the southern state of Victoria.

Defence officials said they ordered in the navy after the ship repeatedly refused to halt in high seas.

Rear Adml Raydon Gates said police boats had been unable to stop the ship. He added yesterday: "Of course, in showing some force, as required in the operation, you put out a warship with a five-inch gun on board and people do pay some attention."

April 21, 2003 at 08:02 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (203) | Top of page | Blog Home

Australian SAS seize top fugitives

Telegraph | News | Australian SAS seize top fugitives

By Neil Tweedie in Qatar and Ben Rooney, Defence Staff
(Filed: 17/04/2003)

Australian SAS troops have captured up to 60 Ba'ath Party leaders and Fedayeen fighters as they attempted to flee into neighbouring Syria.
The captures in north-western Iraq this week underline the unsung role that Australia has played in the war against Saddam.

Key among the 2,000-strong Australian contingent is a squadron of about 150 Australian SAS, highly respected in the special forces world. They worked closely with British and American counterparts and were involved in the seizure of air bases in western Iraq.

A military spokesman said the Australians, like the British, preferred to operate in "grey", not worrying about a share of the limelight.

"Our forces have been praised as first rate and the British in particular don't say that if they don't mean it," he said. No Australian servicemen died in combat, despite the SAS task group's involvement in more than a dozen exchanges of fire.

The group, which was given its own zone of operations in the north and west of Iraq, was also given the task of monitoring routes for signs of movement by the regime's leadership.

Australia also contributed three navy ships, Anzac, Darwin and Kinimbla, and a squadron of FA18 Hornets which were used in attack missions over Iraq. Australian navy divers were used to find and destroy mines in the port city of Umm Qasr.

The White House spokesman, Ari Fleischer, gave high praise for their contribution. "Australia has stood as a strong ally and close friend," he said.

The other country to send forces was Poland. Its 200 troops, including combat medics and some 50 members of the elite special forces unit GROM, took part in the seizure of the port of Umm Qasr and searches of ships in the Gulf.

April 17, 2003 at 08:03 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (336) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dramatic rescue operation

BBC NEWS | World | Africa | Dramatic rescue operation

Monday, 11 September, 2000, 10:53 GMT 11:53 UK
The dramatic operation in which British forces rescued the seven hostages held by the West Side Boys was complex, risky, and meticulously planned.
Up to 150 troops and five helicopters took part in the two-pronged assault, as dawn was breaking over the Sierra Leone jungle hideout.

The timing of the operation was crucial: There was just enough light for the helicopters to see where they were going, but they could not be easily spotted themselves.

Speed was also of the essence. The hostages were being guarded by about 50 men and women, who were ready to start shooting at first sight of a helicopter.

Three giant Chinook helicopters ferried 110 soldiers from the renowned Parachute Regiment into the two landing zones, while two smaller Lynx helicopters provided supporting fire.

Within 20 minutes, the hostages were in a helicopter, being whisked back to safety after their 16 day ordeal in captivity.

Two-pronged attack

The most daunting military problem facing planners was the fact that the West Side Boys had at least two encampments, separated by the 300 metre-wide Rokel Creek.

One position, to the south, was effectively able to provide covering fire for the other, to the north, where the hostages were being held.

Both positions had to be attacked simultaneously. The northern camp, the West Side Boys' headquarters, was quickly overwhelmed.

But the southern position took much longer to secure. Fierce fighting continued for up to an hour and a half, with British troops even having to use mortars.

The militia group lost 25 dead and about 18 of their fighters were captured, including their commander.

One British soldier was killed in the attack, and another was seriously injured. Eleven more personnel received what are described as light injuries.

Massive operation

The Army, Navy and RAF were all used to overpower the rag-tag militia group, who were thought to number about 200, many of them women and children.

There has been unconfirmed speculation that the elite SAS troops were also used to provide information and take part in the attack.

Defence analyst Colonel Andrew Duncan said he believed special forces would have been "key", rescuing the hostages while other soldiers concentrated on distracting the West Side Boys.

It has been claimed that the West Side Boys are an ill-disciplined group, often high on drink and drugs, but they are also well-equipped and determined fighters

The BBC's Allan Little in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, said the West Side Boys managed to retreat after the initial assault and then open fire on the rescuers from the edge of the jungle.

He said the operation continued into the late afternoon as British forces consolidated their position and then carefully withdrew troops and equipment.

Jungle experience

The West Side Boys are also experienced jungle fighters, and were intimately familiar with the terrain, a mixture of jungle and mangrove swamps.

However, the Parachute Regiment soldiers who made up the bulk of the rescue force also have jungle experience.

They served in Sierra Leone for three weeks earlier this year and returned on Thursday after flying to Dakar in Senegal from the UK last week.

Hostage crisis
25 August: 11 British soldiers captured with Sierra Leonean colleague
30 August: Militiamen free five British soldiers
31 August: Kidnappers issue political demands
6 September: Plan for military operation finalised
10 September: Remaining hostages freed

September 11, 2000 at 10:42 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (187) | Top of page | Blog Home

Bloody end to Sierra Leone hostage drama

BBC News | AFRICA | Bloody end to Sierra Leone hostage drama

Sunday, 10 September, 2000, 20:51 GMT 21:51 UK
One British soldier and 25 Sierra Leonean militiamen, including three women, have been killed during a raid which freed six British hostages.
The UK Ministry of Defence said another British soldier had been seriously injured and 11 suffered light wounds.

But the six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean officer were all rescued unhurt after the dawn raid on the militia camp in the Occra Hills east of the capital Freetown.

UK Prime Minister Tony Blair paid tribute to the 150 troops, on board five helicopters, who carried out the mission, which rescued the men, who had been held since 25 August.

'Mock executions'

Eighteen members of the West Side Boys militia - 15 men and three women - have also been captured, including the group's leader "Brigadier" Foday Kallay.

The raid was launched after the West Side Boys made repeated threats to kill the captives and carried out "mock executions".

Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the decision to move in came after a breakdown of talks with the group, and following reports they staged "mock executions" on the British soldiers, all members of the Royal Irish Regiment (RIR).

Blair pays tribute

Mr Blair said his thoughts and prayers were with servicemen's families.

He said: "I cannot pay high enough tribute to the skill, the professionalism and the courage of the armed forces involved.

"Inevitably, in such an operation as this, there are casualties. The details of these will be given out later."

The freed hostages, along with the Sierra Leonean army officer, are now safely aboard the British naval vessel Sir Percival in the harbour of the capital Freetown.

At the RIR's headquarters in Ballymena, County Antrim, there was intense relief, but the celebrations were tempered by news of the rescuers' casualties.

General Sir Charles Guthrie, chief of the defence staff, saide there had been "significant resistance" from the West Side Boys.

"They fought very hard and there were women among the fighting, some of whom may have been among the casualities."

But the General refused to give further details of British casualties.

The rescue operation centred on a militia camp in the Occra Hills, situated on both sides of a 300 metre-wide creek surrounded by swamps.

The raid began at first light on Sunday as men from the 1st Battalion the Parachute Regiment, along with RAF and Royal Navy forces, began their assault on the camp outside Freetown.

Mr Hoon said a military operation was only authorised after negotiations were seen to be failing.

"We tried to negotiate the solution with some success. Five hostages were released."

He said the West Side Boys had received a satellite telephone, food and medical supplies to meet their demands.

But at the last meeting with Brig Kallay the demands had got unreasonable.

"He was pressing for quite unreasonable and unattainable political concessions," said Mr Hoon.

Blair authorised mission

A Downing Street spokesman said Mr Blair authorised the troops' move on Wednesday, and gave the final go-ahead for the mission to free the soldiers from the Royal Irish Regiment on Saturday afternoon.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman told BBC News Online the Sierra Leone Government and the United Nations had been kept fully informed.

Authorisation for this military operation was taken at the highest level

MoD spokesman
News of the raid - given by Gen Guthrie during a pre-arranged interview with Sir David Frost on the BBC's Breakfast With Frost programme - came out of the blue.

Five of the British soldiers were released last Wednesday and are being returned to Britain this week.

But the released soldiers' senior officers are understood to be no closer to understanding how their group was captured in the first place.

It appears they may have become caught up in a local political dispute.

The West Side Boys included former government army troops who said they want the peace agreement signed last year renegotiated.

The elected and British-backed Sierra Leone government publicly rejected this demand, saying it would encourage more of the lawlessness which has plagued the country for a decade.

September 10, 2000 at 10:38 PM in SAS | Permalink | TrackBack (521) | Top of page | Blog Home