Mission in the jungle: How the raid succeeded

LONDON, England (CNN) -- The raid to rescue six soldiers of the Royal Irish Regiment and their Sierra Leone liaison officer on Sunday was sparked by a threat by the West Side Boys to execute them.

0616: 150 paratroopers and SAS soldiers took off in three Chinooks, and two Lynx helicopters from Freetown airport. Flying at 200 mph they flew up the jungle-enclosed delta of Rokel Creek.

0640: One Chinook landed at Geri Bana and surrounded the hut where the captives were being held. After shooting the guerillas guarding the hut they quickly escorted the hostages to the giant twin-bladed helicopter.

At exactly the same time the two other Chinooks landed paratroopers in the jungle to the south of Magbeni where rebels were dug in with captured British Land Rovers and a heavy machine gun.

0700: All the hostages are airlifted out to Freetown.

0800: The West Side Boys in nearby huts were suppressed and their leader Foday Kallay was captured.

16.00: The last of the paratroops were airlifted out after a mopping-up operation. One British paratrooper had been killed, one seriously injured and 11 more slightly wounded. 25 West Side Boys had been killed and 18 captured. British Land Rovers seized by the rebels had been recovered.

Before the operation began Foday Kallay had threatened to kill his hostages on the Saturday, September 9. He had demanded that his political allies be allowed to take power. It was then that British Prime Minister Tony Blair authorised the mission.

Four days previously the West Side Boys had been given cigarettes and a generator in the belief that the hostages would be released.

The Royal Irish Regiment soldiers were among 11 originally taken hostage with a Sierra Leonean liaison officer on August 25th after driving into the rebel base in Occra Hills in three Land Rovers.

Two days later an SAS negotiating team arrived in Freetown to talk with the rebels. The West Side Boys demanded food,medicine, and release from Freetown of one of their leaders - General Papa, or "Bombblast".

On August 30th five of the soldiers were released after a satellite telephone, food and medicine were given to the rebels. Kallay later used the phone to demand that the elected government step down to be replaced by his political allies.

But 11 days later it was feared the others would not be released and so the rescue mission was launched.

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