US forces free hostages in Somalia
Two aid workers, who have been held hostage in Somalia for three months, are freed by US special forces in an early morning operation.
The American and Danish hostages were rescued from Somali pirates according to a local security official.
America’s NBC News, citing US officials, said two teams of US Navy Seals landed by helicopter and rescued the hostages after a gun battle with the kidnappers.
It was also US Navy Seals who killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a raid on his Pakistan home in May.
The Danish Refugee Council confirmed that Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted were rescued early on Wednesday.
President Barack Obama authorised the mission two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address he was on the phone with the American’s father to tell him his daughter was safe.
Mohamed Hussein, a military official in Somalia’s Galmudug region, told Reuters the hostages were freed after an operation involving US military helicopters.
‘Special case’
Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal told Denmark’s TV 2 News this case was special: “We are dealing with one of the hostages having an illness which is very serious, and this is the reason there was made a decision to go in and take action.
“We cannot conclude… that it is something that will be done in future cases.”
The Danish Refugee Council said Buchanan and Thisted were unharmed and at a safe location. Media reports said they had been flown to neighbouring Djibouti, home to the only US military base in Africa and France’s largest base on the continent.
People involved with the hostages had said earlier this month that Buchanan was suffering from a possible kidney infection.
There are reports that up to eight pirates were killed in the operation.
The rescue comes amid recent reports that violence against the pirates’ hostages is increasing, and that pirates are copying tactics used by the al-Qaeda affiliated militant group al-Shabaab.
The captain of a Taiwanese-registered vessel being held by a Somali pirate gang is reported to have had his arm amputated when ship owners refused to pay a $3m (£1.9m) ransom.