French President François Mitterrand congratulates GIGN agents who freed Air France Flight 8969, December 27, 1994.Alain Nogues/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images On December 24, 1994, Air France Flight ...

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. The GIGN are the French counter-terrorism Special Forces unit set to appear in Rainbow Six Siege.

The more than 230 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 8969 on December 24, 1994, were looking forward to a quick and uneventful flight from Algiers to Paris. Before they took off, four men ...

Instead, the passengers and crew spent three days as the hostages of Islamist extremists. They were freed in a raid that was caught on live TV and introduced France's elite GIGN to the world. The more ...