MOGADISHU |
MOGADISHU (Reuters) – U.S. special forces swooped into Somalia on Wednesday and rescued an American and a Dane after a shootout with pirates holding them hostage, in a rare raid into the Horn of Africa nation to free foreign captives.
The aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted of Denmark, were kidnapped from the town of Galkayo in the semi-autonomous Galmudug region in October while working for the Danish De-mining Group.
“This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Military helicopters ferried elite troops to the pirate camp in scrubland close to Haradheere, a major pirate base in central Somalia, Germany-based U.S. Africa Command said in a statement.
“All nine captors were killed during the assault,” it said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta confirmed no American soldiers were killed in the operation.
The Danish Refugee Council said Buchanan and Thisted were now at a
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