Navy SEALs rescue 2 hostages in Somalia

The Associated Press

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- An ailing American woman and a Danish man, held captive since last fall, are safely on their way home after a bold, dark-of-night rescue by U.S. Navy SEALs. The commandos slipped into a Somali encampment, shot and killed nine captors and whisked the hostages to freedom.

It was the second splashy SEAL Team 6 success in less than a year, following last May's killing of Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

The SEALs apparently encountered some degree of resistance from the kidnappers at the encampment. One U.S. official said yesterday there was a firefight, but the length and extent of the battle were unclear.

Pentagon spokesmen said they could not confirm a gun battle, although one defense official said it was likely that the SEALs killed the kidnappers rather than capture them because they encountered armed resistance or the threat of resistance.

The Pentagon was mostly tight-lipped about details yesterday, citing a need to preserve the secrecy that can give SEALs and other special operations forces an edge against the terrorists, criminals and others they are ordered to kill or capture around the world.

Special operations forces, trained for clandestine, small-team missions, have become a more prominent tool in the military's kit since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Obama administration is expected to announce today that it will invest even more heavily in that capability in coming years.

After planning and rehearsal, the Somalia rescue was carried out by SEAL Team 6, officially known as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group, according to two U.S. officials. The same outfit did the bin Laden mission, the biggest counterterror success of Obama's presidency. It was not clear whether any team members participated in both operations.

One official said the SEALs parachuted from U.S. Air Force aircraft before moving on foot, apparently undetected, to the outdoor encampment where they found American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Hagen Thisted, 60, who had been kidnapped in Somalia last fall. The raid happened near the town of Adado.

Pentagon press secretary George Little said the captors were heavily armed and had "explosives nearby" when the rescuers arrived, but he was not more specific.

The American raiders caught the kidnappers as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf khat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone.

A Pentagon spokesman said U.S. officials could not confirm that the kidnappers were engaged in piracy. He referred to them simply as "criminals."

Little said the decision to go ahead with the rescue was prompted in part by concern about the medical condition of Buchanan. He said he could not be specific without violating her privacy but did say U.S. officials had reason to believe her condition could be life-threatening.