American woman and Danish man safe and nine kidnappers killed after troops mount daring raid following parachute drop
An American woman and a Danish man being held hostage in Somalia are free after a rescue mission by US navy Seals that left nine kidnappers dead.
The same unit that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in May parachuted into the African country under cover of darkness early on Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where the two hostages were being held.
Barack Obama had authorised the mission, by Seal Team 6, two days earlier. And minutes after he gave his state of the union address to Congress on Wednesday, he was on the phone to the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe.
The Danish Refugee Council (DRC) confirmed the two aid workers, Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, were "on their way to be reunited with their families".
Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a demining unit of the DRC when gunmen kidnapped them in October.
The navy Seals came in quickly – catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, according to a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein.
Hussein said he had spoken to pirates who were there and been told that nine pirates had been killed and three "taken away".
A US official confirmed that the Seals parachuted into the area before moving on foot to the target near the Somali town of Adado.
Seal Team 6 is also known as the naval special warfare development group.
Obama directed his security team to develop a rescue plan after new intelligence emerged last week that Buchanan's health was "deteriorating rapidly", according to a senior administration official speaking anonymously.
Mary Ann Olsen, a DRC official, said Buchanan was "not that ill" but needed medicine.
Obama said: "As commander-in-chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts.
"The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice."
Another official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to a US military base at Camp Lemonnier in neighbouring Djibouti.
Defence secretary Leon Panetta visited the camp just over a month ago. Djibouti, a key US ally in the region, has the only US base in sub-Saharan Africa.
Buchanan lived in Kenya before transferring to Somalia, and worked at a school in Nairobi from 2007-09. Rob Beyer, dean of students at Rosslyn Academy, described her as easy to laugh and adventurous.
"There have been tears on and around the campus today," he said. "She was well-loved by all her students."
The DRC had been trying to work with Somali elders to win the hostages' freedom but had found little success.
Danish foreign minister Villy Soevndal told his country's TV2 channel: "One of the hostages has a disease that was very serious and that had to be solved." He also congratulated the Americans for the raid.
The DRC said both hostages were unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families".
Olsen informed Thisted's family of the successful military operation and said "they were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over".
Olsen said the hostages would soon be moved from Djibouti to a "safe haven." She added that Buchanan does not need to be hospitalised.
The workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals – sometimes referred to as pirates – and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab.
As large ships at sea have increased their defences against pirate attacks, gangs have undertaken land-based kidnappings.
Muhammad Sahal, a Somali elder who had been contacted by the DRC, said: "We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers.
"They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture … these men [the pirates] have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back."
Following the kidnapping of Buchanan and Thisted in October in Galkayo town, Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.
Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in the crime.
The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, which clears mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.
Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including British tourist Judith Tebbutt, two Spanish doctors seized from Kenya and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.