STORY DRIVEN OSINT CTF

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Prisoner Of War

Briefing

Greetings, Special Agent.

We have an urgent contract for the government of France. After their official departure from Mali last summer, only a few platoons of Special Operation Units remain in the country. Officially, these troops are not present. Unofficially, they are there to protect high ranking politicians and other French partisans.

Two days ago, during a routine escort of a Malian VIP, the convoy was ambushed by unknown insurgent forces. The VIP and most of the convoy managed to return fire and make it out alive. One of the soldiers however, Raphaël Bernard, was hit in the right leg and taken prisoner by the insurgents.

Not being able to reach private Bernard before being captured, French forces were ordered to stand down and not give chase.

Continuing efforts of the French government to locate the missing private have yielded no results. Up until this morning, when a young girl approached a local police unit. She conveyed to them she had escaped a childrens home where she was kept against her will. The man who helped her escape, gave her a picture of the place they were being held. We have reason to believe this man is the missing private, Raphaël Bernard.

The girl approached the officers on the RN1 near “Posté de contrôle KAYES”. Below you find the image given to the girl, as well as the AOR (Area of Operation) of the remaining French detachement.

It’s your job to locate the building where the French private is being held. Once the location is confirmed, French special forces will conduct a raid to extract Raphaël Bernard.

As always, Special Agent, the contract is yours, if you choose to accept.

Materials

Answer Instruction

Use the answer to unlock the flagfile, this will reward you with your badge.

Construct the answer using the full name of the location, as listed on Google Maps.

Example: habitat-d-azure-hotel-champagne

Flagfile

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Official Write-up

Provided here is the official write-up, it does contain the answer. Use this if you’re stuck, or want to verify if you got the answer correct.

Prisoner of War

A French soldier has been captured in Mali, and a photograph from an escaped child suggests he’s being held at a children’s facility. We need to identify the exact location using provided geographic context near Kayes.

Available Materials

  1. Photograph of the facility
  2. Area of Operation information
  3. Reference point: RN1 near “Posté de contrôle KAYES”
  4. Ambush coordinates: 14.495703,-11.156166

Solution Path

Geographic Context

  1. Focus on Kayes region of Mali
  2. Use RN1 road as primary reference
  3. Search for children’s facilities/homes
  4. Consider proximity to ambush location
  5. Look for matching architectural features

Location Parameters

  • Region: Kayes, Mali
  • Near RN1 highway
  • Within operational range of French forces
  • Children’s facility/orphanage type building
  • Coordinates area: 14.453602,-11.399466

Answer Format

Must follow this format:

village-d-enfants-sos-khouloum-kayes

Key formatting rules:

  1. All lowercase
  2. Hyphens between all words
  3. French facility name
  4. Include full location name
  5. No spaces or special characters

Research Tools

  1. Satellite imagery
  2. NGO facility databases
  3. Local area maps
  4. Children’s home registries
  5. French military AOR maps

Verification Steps

  1. Match facility appearance
  2. Confirm location name
  3. Verify proximity to RN1
  4. Check distance from ambush site
  5. Validate exact spelling and format

Remember: Pay special attention to the French facility naming conventions and ensure all words are properly hyphenated in the answer.

Creator(s): Frank Diepmaat