A 42-YEAR-OLD man has been arrested in West Yorkshire on suspicion of war crimes committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone.

The Metropolitan Police said officers from its war crimes team arrested the man on Tuesday of this week in Leeds on suspicion of offences contrary to section 51 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001.

It added that the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation into allegations relating to atrocities that occurred during the war in the west African country between 1994 and 2000.

The man was later released under investigation.

lThe UK began a military intervention in Sierra Leone on May 7, 2000 under the codename Operation Palliser, which was the first large-scale intervention by British forces in the Sierra Leone Civil War.