Norfolk soldiers have been among battalions who battled through a sand storm to seize a cache of weapons hidden by terrorists in Mali.
Around 100 soldiers from the Light Dragoons and Royal Anglian Regiment found AK47 rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, camouflage clothing, radios, mobile phones and hundreds of litres of fuel.
The mission took place in early May, shortly after suspected fighters of the so-called Islamic State in the Greater Sahel (ISGS) fled by swimming across the River Niger.
The Light Dragoons were formerly based at Robertson Barracks in Swanton Morley. Although they moved to Catterick in Yorkshire in 2015, soldiers from Norfolk still serve in the battalion. The Royal Anglians, who are recruited from counties including Norfolk and Suffolk, are based at Woolwich in London.
Around 120 soldiers from the Swanton Morley-based 1st The Queen’s Dragoon Guards are due to join the UN peacekeeping mission in Mali in June.
Lieutenant Colonel Tom Robinson, commanding officer of the Light Dragoons, said: “This operation is a tangible example of how UK soldiers, as part of the UN force, are making a real difference to protect the people of Mali who are living in one of the most vulnerable regions in the world."
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