US army special forces free Danish, US hostages in Somalia

Jan 25, 2012, 12:13 GMT

Mogadishu/Copenhagen - US Army special forces flew in helicopters to Somalia on Wednesday to rescue an American and a Dane held hostage by pirates for months, killing nine captors.

The US Army African Command said in a statement that American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted were unharmed in the operation near Galcayo, some 720 kilometres northeast of the capital Mogadishu.

'During the course of the operation, the rescue force patrolled to the location and confirmed the presence of Mrs Buchanan and Mr Thisted guarded by nine captors,' the army said. 'All nine captors were killed during the assault.'

The Danish Refugee Council, where Buchanan and Thisted worked before they were kidnapped in October, confirmed their release.

'The two aid workers from the Danish Refugee Council's demining unit, DDG, are both unharmed and at a safe location,' the council said in a statement.

A pirate who declined to be named told dpa that the operation involved at least two helicopters.

US President Barack Obama said that Buchanan was 'on her way home,' and praised the Special Operations Forces who carried out the assault. They were part of Navy Seal Team Six, the same unit involved in killing Osama bin Laden, but were not part of that operation, reports said.

Obama had congratulated military leaders and Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta Tuesday evening as he greeted them before his State of the Union address before the raid was made public, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

'The decision to go ahead with this rescue mission was made because there was information concerning the deteriorating health of Ms Buchanan, as well as a window of opportunity to try to execute this mission,' Carney said.

He said the decision to conduct the rescue was made Monday evening and that Obama had been briefed throughout the operation. He later called Buchanan's father to tell him the rescue had been successful.

Washington informed Denmark before US forces launched the attack, Danish Foreign Minister Villy Sovndal said, welcoming the release.

'I am happy and relieved that the Danish hostage has been freed,' Sovndal told Danish news agency Ritzau. I have heard that he is doing well under the circumstances but don't know when he can return home.'

Assaults on pirate bases on land are not common, but US forces in April 2009 killed three pirates holding the captain of the US-owned ship Maersk Alabama.

The aid workers were taken hostage by their security team in the central town of Galkayo on October 25 before being passed on to a pirate gang, which was seeking a ransom payment.

The pirate gangs which have terrorized the coastal waters off Somalia in recent years have increasingly turned to taking land-based hostages as improved security on merchant vessels reduces the success rate of attacks on the high seas.

Pirate groups late last year took two foreign nationals from Kenya's coastal area of Lamu, which is close to the Somali border and popular with tourists.

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