The raid, was led by the Parachute Regiment and the SAS and codenamed Operation Barras, they rescued six British soldiers and one Sierra Leoneon held hostage deep in the jungle by the renegade faction the West Side Boys.
The battle of Rokel Creek lasted 90 minutes, at the end of which 25 members of the West Side Boys were dead and 18 captured, including their leader, the self-styled brigadier Foday Kallay.
The 150 British troops arrived by helicopter and boat before 6.30am at two villages in the Occra Hills, about 50 miles from the capital Freetown, taking advantage of the poor light and early hour to surprise the West Side Boys, who had threatened to execute the hostages if they heard a helicopter.
The paratroopers targeted two villages, Magbeni and Gberi Bana, either side of the wide Rokel Creek.
The hostages were being kept on the south bank, less than a mile east of Magbeni.
The Paras met considerable resistance from the West Side Boys and there was a "significant exchange of fire" in which a brit soldier was killed.
The paras had to wade chest-high through a jungle creek under fire. The firefight lasted two hours.
While the hostages were secured by the SAS, two Chinook helicopters fought to keep the West Side Boys at bay. The helicopters then attacked the villages and pursued the fighters into the jungle.