Eight British SAS men freed in Libya

[Guest guest]

http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/africa/eight-british-sas-men-freed-in-l\

ibya

Eight British SAS men freed in Libya

Sapsted

Last Updated: Mar 7, 2011

LONDON// Eight members of a British special forces team sent to rebel-held

Benghazi were freed last night after being locked up by opponents of the Qaddafi

regime.

The members of the elite SAS Regiment, who had been flown into Benghazi as

protection for a UK diplomat sent in to open a dialogue with the rebels, left

the port in eastern Libya last night aboard the British warship HMS Cumberland.

The UK defence secretary, Liam Fox, had confirmed earlier in the day that a

British diplomatic team had been flown in to Libya to talk to rebel forces but

would not confirm that the accompanying soldiers had been detained.

Diplomatic sources in London said that the soldiers, who were armed but not in

military uniform, were detained by rebels annoyed by a foreign military presence

on their soil.

The soldiers, who were believed to have been among a group who landed by

helicopter just outside Benghazi on Saturday morning, were never thought to be

in danger as negotiations got under way yesterday. HMS Cumberland arrived in the

port last week to pick up UK nationals and deliver relief and medical supplies.

Dr Fox confirmed to the BBC yesterday that a " small diplomatic team " had been

sent to Benghazi. " We are in touch with them but it would be inappropriate for

me to comment further on that for reasons I am sure you will understand, " he

added.

Leyne, a BBC correspondent in Benghazi, said in a dispatch that he was

surprised that Britain had taken the " Bond route " to fly the diplomats

guarded by special forces to the city.

" There was a British warship here in town just a few days ago, " he said. " If

anyone wanted to make contact with the authorities here, they could have just

walked down the gangplank and hailed a taxi. "

Last week, three Dutch special forces soldiers were captured by Col Qaddafi's

forces in western Libya while assisting in the evacuation of Dutch nationals.

There has been no word of them since Thursday when the Dutch government said

that " intensive diplomatic talks " were under way.

[Guest guest]

I thought it sounded like a plan by a bureaucrat. The probably would have sent that same Foreign office man in with one or two plain clothes SAS bodyguards and everything would have gone smoothly. It was mainly the fact that they called attention to themselves with a commando operation that caused the trouble.

In a message dated 3/6/2011 4:11:02 P.M. Eastern Standard Time, no_reply writes:

Leyne, a BBC correspondent in Benghazi, said in a dispatch that he was surprised that Britain had taken the " Bond route" to fly the diplomats guarded by special forces to the city."There was a British warship here in town just a few days ago," he said. "If anyone wanted to make contact with the authorities here, they could have just walked down the gangplank and hailed a taxi."