They were freed in a raid that was caught on live TV and introduced France's elite GIGN to the world. The more than 230 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 8969 on December 24 ...

France sent RAID, which stands for research, assistance, intervention, and dissuasion, and GIGN, the Intervention Group of the National Gendarmerie, to hunt down Cherif and Said Kouachi ...

Two main units were involved: The National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) and the Research Assistance Intervention Dissuasion (RAID). A counter-terrorism unit of the French military ...

Nicolas, the GIGN commander, said. “Obviously how long it takes us to arrive will depend on how close the nearest RAID or GIGN unit is to the incident.” This package of structural reforms was ...

No place in France will be more than 20 minutes away from an anti-terrorist unit, with the creation of seven new branches of the GIGN and Raid commando forces, minister Bernard Cazeneuve announced.