Via Sky News.
Time to check Google Earth and see how many British aircraft I can count in Djibouti.
Read the rest at their news site.Two hostages - a Briton and an Italian - have been killed by terrorists in northern Nigeria in an attempted rescue operation.
The effort to free Chris McManus, from the North West of England, and his colleague Franco Lamolinara was launched by British special forces and the Nigerian army.Sky sources say there were no fatalities on the British and Nigerian forces' side but there were several fatalities among the hostage-takers.Prime Minister David Cameron said the pair appeared to have died at the hands of their captors, either before or during the course of the rescue bid.Sky sources say it is believed there was a fight and during the assault the UK and Nigerian forces could not get to Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara in time.
"It strongly appears that the hostage-takers shot the hostages," the sources said.
Time to check Google Earth and see how many British aircraft I can count in Djibouti.
Interesting. They are making a big deal of British Forces acting in a supporting role here, but you're right it probably would have been UKSF in the lead.
ReplyDeleteI doubt the UK will be based in Djibouti though. With a long established base and training facility (with deployed helos I believe) in Kenya, they're more likely to be based there. If not the UK has long standing ties to Sierra Leone and to a lesser extent Nigeria. Basically they could be based in several places, but I doubt Djibouti is it.
you know British Special Forces much better than i do. i just didn't realize that so many bases were available to you all in Africa. now i know why so many Brits go on holiday in Africa.
ReplyDeletei always considered the entire continent sketchy.
Its been confirmed that it was the SBS that led the raid.
ReplyDeleteThe bases issue is just speculation on my part, but the Uk has a long history in Africa, so we have a lot of options there.