British troops battled a sandstorm and temperatures above 50 ° C (122 ° F) to seize a cache of weapons from Islamic State terrorists in Mali, the Defense Ministry said.
About 100 soldiers from the Light Dragoons and the Royal Anglian Regiment found AK47 rifles, hundreds of cartridges, camouflage clothing, radios, cell phones and hundreds of gallons of fuel.
the MoD said the mission was carried out with the support of a specialist Royal Engineers research team, under incredibly difficult conditions.
The Defense Ministry said around 100 soldiers from the Light Dragoons and the Royal Anglian Regiment were involved in the operation.
At times the visibility of the raid team was reduced to 30 meters by a sandstorm, while the soldiers, carrying up to 45 kg of equipment, endured temperatures of over 50 ° C while they were heading towards a Malian village near the Niger border in early May.
This was the first cordon and search operation, acting on the basis of proactively collected intelligence, carried out by UN forces in Mali.
Their targets, alleged fighters of the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (ISGS) fled by swimming across the Niger River, before settling.
Insurgents intimidated residents, extorted money and assaulted people who refused to comply with their demands, the defense ministry said.
This meant that British forces were able to respond to protect them under the UN peacekeeping mandate.
Armed Forces Minister James Heappey said: “The withdrawal of arms and the disruption of the terrorist operation will make a real difference to the local community and, most importantly, the intelligence gathered will help develop our understanding and help prevent the threat of armed groups in the future. “
AK47 rifles, hundreds of cartridges, camouflage clothing, radios, cell phones and hundreds of gallons of fuel were found
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Source: news.sky.com
This notice was published: 2021-05-15 06:54:00
