Navy SEALs Rescue American Aid Workers In Somalia

President Obama authorized the mission Monday night.

A U.S. special operations team of Navy SEALs rescued two aid workers in Somalia Tuesday night, including a U.S. woman who had been held hostage for three months by Somalian kidnappers and suffered from a life-threatening medical condition.

Jessica Buchanan, 32, of Bedford, Va., and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, of Denmark, were abducted Oct. 25 by a band of Somalis while on their way to the airport in Galcayo, located in central Somalia. Both were working for the Danish Refugee Council’s Danish Demining Group, and had just finished a training course for Somalis when they were abducted.

The Department of Defense and the FBI coordinated the effort.

 The rescue mission began around 2 a.m. local time as team of Navy SEALs parachuted into the area near the desert encampment where the two aid workers were being held, a U.S. official said. U.S. Africa Command said in a statement that the raid took place in the vicinity of Gadaado, Somalia.

As they approached the camp, the official said, there was a firefight and that there were no U.S. casualties. U.S. Africa Command said that the nine Somalian captors were all killed in the firefight.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.