25 rebels, 1 British soldier killed in rescue

British paratroopers stormed a jungle hideout on Sunday, freeing six British soldiers and one Sierra Leonean officer who were seized on 25 August by a rebel group calling itself the West Side Boys. One British soldier and 25 rebels were killed and another 12 British troops were wounded in the assault on Geri Bana in the Occra Hills, east of Freetown, that included helicopters and over 100 troops. Sky News television reported that Jordanian UN troops captured some rebels, including their local commander, Foday Kallay, and secured the exit for the attackers. Sierra Leonean Information Minister Julius Spencer told IRIN that government troops sealed off the area during the operation in which, the Sierra Leonean military said, 18 rebels were captured. The British chief of defence staff, General Charles Guthrie, said on BBC World that there had been a "significant exchange" of fire and that the rebels "fought very hard". The rescue was authorised when it became clear that the West Side Boys were not negotiating in good faith to release the troops, Prime Minister Tony Blair said over BBC World television on Sunday. The soldiers were among 400 to 500 men who have been training the new Sierra Leone army. The rebels had threatened to kill them and carried out mock executions, British Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said on televison. Initially, 11 British soldiers and their Sierra Leonean army liaison officer had been captured along the highway between Freetown and Masiaka, east of the capital, but five were released five days later after negotiations with the rebels. While praising the rescue, Conservative Party shadow Secretary for Defence Iain Smith called for the withdrawal of the British army training component in Sierra Leone, Reuters said. However, Spencer said, "The British have assured us of their full commitment." So far, he added, the British had trained 2,000 men for the new military. The Sierra Leonean military information officer, Major John Milton, told IRIN that another 1,000 troops would go through boot camp this month. Although the rebels' base in the Occra Hills has been captured and their fighters dispersed, captured or killed, Milton said the army would not declare the road from Freetown to Masiaka safe for aid workers and public vehicles until the completion of a combined mopping up operation. However, he said the army wanted to persuade rebel stragglers to surrender. "We want to encourage those who were held against their will to come out," he said.