Three hundred British soldiers have joined a 15,000-strong United Nations peacekeeping force in Mali. It’s been described as the most dangerous peacekeeping mission in the world.
Nearly 250 UN soldiers have lost their lives there since 2013. British troops are conducting long-range reconnaissance patrols to protect the local population from a rising tide of violent Islamist extremism.
BBC Defence Correspondent Jonathan Beale and cameraman James Anderson were the first TV journalists to join them out on patrol.
They joined a troop led by Capt Alice Strawbridge, the first woman to command a troop by the Light Dragoons since the ban was lifted on women serving in close combat roles.
