A major in the Royal Irish Regiment has been blamed for the capture of his 11-man patrol by rebels in Sierra Leone last month. The British troops were helping to train around 1,000 recruits to the country's army when they were held hostage.
The Ministry of Defence said that an assessment of the incident showed that Major Alan Marshall made an error of professional judgement when he decided to leave the patrol's authorised route back to their base. Five members of the unit were released before a joint operation between paratroopers and the SAS freed the remaining six last Sunday. Eight of the soldiers are from the North, while two more are from the Republic.
