The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) is the elite special forces unit of France. Founded in 1973, their first actions were the war against the National Liberation Front of Corsica from 1976 to 2014, but their most famous intervention was probably the Grand Mosque seizure in Saudi Arabia in 1979, where they helped the government of Saudi Arabia in storming the grand mosque.
History[]
The GIGN was formed in 1973 in the aftermath of the October 1972 Munich Massacre in Germany as a counter-terrorist unit that could be used in rescuing hostages, which the German police failed to do at Munich. The GIGN were deployed on Corsica from 1976 to 2014 to fight the terrorist National Liberation Front of Corsica, and in 1979 they helped Saudi Arabia in storming the Grand Mosque when it was seized by Islamist extremists. The GIGN serve the same purpose as the United States' Delta Force/Navy SEALs or the United Kingdom's SAS/SBS, and they are a major counter-terrorist unit.
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