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Subscribe to RSSThe Navy SEALs caught the kidnappers by surprise, rescuing Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted in Somalia. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Updated at 7:15 p.m. ET: Navy SEAL Team 6, the unit that killed Osama bin Laden, also rescued an American and a Dane held hostage in Somalia, U.S. officials said, but the same service members were not involved in both missions, U.S. officials said. Wednesday.
Updated at 12:30 p.m. ET: The Navy SEALs that rescued the American and Danish hostages in Somalia on Tuesday were not the same individuals who killed Osama bin Laden, U.S. officials told NBC News, contradicting an earlier news service report.
Published at 1:15 a.m. ET: In a daring nighttime raid Tuesday, U.S. Navy SEALs rescued two hostages, including one American, who were being held by kidnappers in Somalia, U.S. officials tell NBC News.
American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and a 60-year-old Dane, Poul Thisted, were working for a Danish relief organization in northern Somalia when they were kidnapped last October. U.S. officials described their kidnappers as heavily armed common criminals with no known ties to any organized militant group.
According to the U.S. officials, two teams of Navy SEALs landed by helicopter near the compound where the two hostages were being held.
As the SEALS approached the compound on foot gunfire broke out, the U.S. officials said, and several of the militants were reportedly killed. There is no word that any of the Americans were wounded.
Danish Refugee Council
Poul Hagen Thisted, a Danish national who was taken hostage in Somalia alongside American Jessica Buchanan in October 2011. The pair were freed by a U.S. Navy SEALS raid.
The SEALs gathered up Buchanan and Thisted, loaded them onto the helicopters and flew them to safety at an undisclosed location. The two hostages were not injured during the rescue operation and are reported to be in relatively good condition.
The two had been working for the Danish Refugee Council on a demining project in northern Somalia. The humanitarian group has been providing relief to some 450,000 refugees in the Somalia-Kenya border region.
News reports at the time said the two were kidnapped Oct. 25 along with a Somali colleague when their three-car convoy was stopped on the way to an airport. A self-proclaimed Somali pirate said they had been kidnapped for ransom by pirates stymied by Western nations' efforts to stop the seizure of ships off the coast. The fate of the Somali colleague was unclear.
STORY: Second American, a writer, held in Somalia; rescue next?
The first indication of the rescue operation came Tuesday night in Washington from President Barack Obama himself.
As the president entered the House chambers to give his State of the Union Speech, he pointed to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta standing in the crowd and said, "Leon. Good job tonight. Good job tonight."
The president made no mention of the hostage rescue, but finished his speech with a reference to the killing of Osama bin Laden last May in a similar operation to the one conducted by Navy SEALs Tuesday night.
U.S. military forces launched a dramatic raid in Somalia that freed an American and a Dane held hostage. NBC's Jim Miklaszewski reports.
Updated at 5:57 a.m. ET: In a statement sent to NBC News and other media, Obama says that he authorized the operation to rescue Buchanan.
"Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our Special Operations Forces, yesterday Jessica Buchanan was rescued and she is on her way home," he says. "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."
Obama, who spoke to Buchanan's father Tuesday night, says she was "selflessly serving her fellow human beings when she was taken hostage by criminals and pirates who showed no regard for her health and well-being."
He says he told her father that "all Americans have Jessica in our thoughts and prayers, and give thanks that she will soon be reunited with her family."
"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," Obama adds. "This is yet another message to the world that the United States of America will stand strongly against any threats to our people."
Updated at 6:50 a.m. ET: A statement from U.S. Africa Command says U.S. forces had received "actionable intelligence" about Buchanan and Thisted and decided to take action.
"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 statement says. "All nine captors were killed during the assault."
General Carter F. Ham, of U.S. Africa Command, says in the statement that the raid, which took place near Gadaado, was "boldly conducted by some of our nation's most courageous, competent, and committed special operations forces."
"Thanks to them a fellow American and her Danish co-worker are safe and will soon be home with their families," he adds.
Updated at 6:55 a.m. ET: A statement from Panetta says he is "grateful to report that there was no loss of life or injuries to our personnel."
He says the rescue -- "undertaken in a hostile environment" -- showed the "superb skills of courageous service members who risked their lives to save others."
"They are heroes and continue to inspire all of us by their bravery and service to our nation," he says.
Updated at 10:35 a.m. ET: Pentagon officials told NBC News that they are characterizing the people who took Buchanan and Thisted hostage as "criminal suspects," rather than pirates. They said the U.S. military has no firm information about whether the captors were connected to pirates or an Islamic militant group like al-Shabaab.
See more of Jim Miklaszewski's reporting on the SEALs raid tonight on NBC's Nightly News with Brian Williams.
More from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Envoy: US dead dishonored by Afghan split 'lies'
- Danger zone then and now: Strait of Hormuz
- Interpol faces legal threat for helping regimes hunt dissidents
Leave a Comment:
THIS is what makes me proud to be American. We're at our best when we save lives, rather than take them.
On this Op... we kinda had to take a bunch of lives to save these two. Unfortunately that's the way it works. Sometimes taking lives and saving lives goes hand in hand.
Poor Old John McCain. This will ruin his night. He won't get to criticize Obama for not doing anything.
Yeah, Obama will just cut and run. Remember that? Poor old curmudgeon. Mission accomplished, despite what the Cons said.
The President might not have even been involved in this. If he was the only thing he had to say was "yes". He has about 100 guys below him in the chain of command who do missions like this every day. Seals, Rangers, SF, MARSCOM, Nightstalkers... there are so many things we don't hear about. This is one of many. And Special Operations Command doesn't need the President's approval for every mission.
Good job Mr. President, I'm glad that even thought Republican's drag him through the mud the truth of how well he is doing as President shines through, he not only was the President to eventually kill Osama Bin Laden (something more that one president wanted to do) but this is not the first order he's given to rescue Americans in danger.
What you have to understand is that every-time a Liberal President orders something like this he puts the lives of endangered Americans above his political career, if something goes wrong he gets all the blame and will be accused of being a bad leader and bla bla, the conservatives will fall on him like wolves. And, not surprisingly when the operations go well and people are saved they give him no credit because they are soulless opportunists who care more about the Republican party than they do about America. But, it's nice to see the President not care and do his job to protect us and make the tough calls to save American lives over looking good politically.
And before any Nazi conservatives respond to this post and say the credit goes to the Seals, remember that The President of the United States Of America, Barack Obama, is the Commander and Chief of our armed forces in the US and around the world, the Seals don't go nowhere unless he gives the order, he is in command, and he has to accept the blame if it all goes wrong, they do their jobs (and no one does their jobs better than US Seals) but the President has to take the blame if they fail, and get no credit if they succeed, it's a thankless job running America when you have the kind of despicable, hateful, vindictive conservatives he has to deal with waiting to stick the knives in at every opportunity.
Very well said. But rest assured, the teabaggers find fault with it in some way. Its not that he's a Dem, its the fact that is is half white that bothers them so much.
It happened to Carter with Operation Eagle Claw. The Iranian hostage rescue attempt that failed, the release of whom, Ronnie McReagan, a former Democrat, got the credit for later. Army Delta Force took a great loss but it was on a Democratic watch so the dirty Cons had a field day at America's expense.
Why not help fellow Americans out. Why go to another country.. I wish people would explain this logic to me!
@Chris-3123869 Are you talking about the hostage or the Seals?
The Seals were saving Americans.
The Americans they saved are saving women and children that are starving.
We have many groups and people here in the USA that help to make sure Americans don't starve.
Chris3123869::: The logic is that we have organizations in this country that can help. Once a year the postal service collects canned goods for a food pantry. My vet center has a food pantry for the veterans-- and it is well stocked. Churches have food pantrys. Maybe you should get off your tail and help at one of them.
Oh, there are missions that provide hot meals for the homeless. There is such a thing as Meals on Wheels also. They operate in this country, not in that country.
Don't use the excuse that you are too old to volunteer. I have been volunteering for 20+ years and I'm no spring chicken. If you say you are too old to volunteer you are just using it as an excuse to lay around and gripe.
Oh, for crying out loud! These people were missionaries. That means they were there as part of a religious outreach. I'm pretty sure God doesn't have a home country.
Obama was doing what he does best, blowing smoke up every American's a**.
The intellect of the average Republican shines through once again!
Way to go SEALS! Another job WELL DONE! Congratulations and Thank You!
For all those that would call these two individuals "Idiots" for joining a cause to help those that cannot help themselves and risk their lives for the cause really need to look at what they themselves believe is good and righteous. Their bravery is to be commended and the brave men and women who serve our military are also to be commended. I cannot tell you how very proud I am of each and every one of you. A special thanks to our President. His use of our military in recent years has shown the world that no matter were you are, if you mess with us we will find you. Along with these missions he has used these teams to saved many Iranians who themselves were taken hostage by these pirates. The world is on notice and our brave men and women in uniform are making a difference. We all love you. God bless you all.
Another job well done, in spite of boner and company.
Wow, such great news, especially after hearing the State of the Union speech! It's good to know that if you fall into the wrong hands over seas, a seal team or drone may come to your rescue.
OH LOOK!!! Obama being soft on terrorists, AGAIN!
DAMN YOU OBAMA!!! DAMN YOU!! < shaking fist in the general direction of the White House. Oops! Turning around facing EAST, and shaking fist in the general direction of the White House. My goof. I live on the LEFT coast. Sorry.>
Now I suppose Fox News, Rush, Glen and company will try to tell us that Obama had nothing to do with this at all. And that all the credit for it should go to where it really belongs. To G.W. Bush.
Oh to live in the fantasy world of the Right.
It would be funny if it wasn't true.
"And now, a Fox TV Special Report: Sun gives of lots of radiation in solar flare, more evidence that Obama is a bad President, full story at 5pm"
This shows again that as a practical matter the CIA and the Special OPs people need to driving US action in that part of the world.
The the general uniform military just does not, and never did fit to work problems in that highly unstable part of the world (which includes all of North Africa and greater Middle East).
Did you know the CIA, early on - using truck loads of cash and local warlords got the Taliban out of Afghanistan BEFORE Rumsfeld had to inject (butt in) the military into that action? If we could have kept the warlord cash coming alone - it would have been cheaper on many levels, while maybe being just as complicated a solution.
The worst feeling in the world, having a Navy SEAL team land in your backyard!
Yes it's very noble to want to help the people of Somalia, but this is what happens when you go there unarmed with nothing but a smile and some band-aids.
What's bad? You help people who need it, get captured, and then a team of trained professionals comes in, rescues you, and kills a bunch of thugs that they weren't authorized to kill beforehand! Win-win!
Chalk another one up to the Seals. God Bless you for your courage and commitment and to the leaders that made the mission happen.
Thank you
signed..
an American citizen
Oorah!! The "Community Organizer" has hit another home run! President Obama is taking all the wind (hot air) out of the sails of the Republicans.
Osama bin Laden dead: check
Economy gradually improving: check
Oh hell, it's too late to go on, but you know what I mean!
It took George W eight years to knock 2,000 points out of the Dow Jones. In three years Obama has added 4,500 points to it.
I don't really want to get into it, but that is such a simplistic view only an idiot would say something like that. As if nothing else happened in the past 11 years besides changing presidents.
@gcv, sorry.
Navy SEALS kick ass! Woo hoo!
They should have been left there to rot. They put themselves in that situation. Lives shouldn't be put at risk in order to save them.
Right. I see the name fits "Shark". Just one question...Who has your back?
Not only do I disagree, but your post shows the basic difference in the ethics of liberals and conservatives.
Conservatives don't care about anyone else, anyone.
Liberals think it's noble to sacrifice your life and endanger it to try and make the world a better place.
That is why conservatives accuse liberals of destroying America and the world, it's always the guy who who is yelling the most about something that is the one hiding something, it should be common sense that a bunch of American college kids cleaning up a lake full of pollution dumped in there by some greedy corporation are not in the process of destroying America, they are trying to save it, the corporation that dumped all the crap in the water is actually destroying America, that's why they have to pay conservatives some of the money they got destroying America to accuse the liberal kids of being a danger to America.
It's deep, and sad, and the worst part is: most of the conservatives in America who are poor have no idea how completely brainwashed they have become, they think that the rich and powerful care about them and are on their side.
That old saying about the greatest trick Satan ever pulled off was making people believe he didn't exist is true, cause the greatest trick conservatives have ever pulled off is making people thing that a bunch of Americans who want: freedom, justice, health care and human rights are bad people.
I really disagree with people who say these two individuals should not have been doing aid work abroad removing land mines. There are many Americans who go abroad to do good works. This is part of the American identity. These people were in Northern Somalia, which is stable when compared to the southern portion of Somalia controlled by the militant group Al-Shabaab. These were not people on a tourist excursion. If Americans should not perform aid work abroad for fear of kidnapping by some common thugs, then you may as well apply that to Mexico or any of the dozens of other countries where Americans are doing work through NGO's or Missions. You could even extend this logic the those serving the peace corps.
Furthermore, the fact that Americans are willing to do this work helps to raise the profile of the US around the world. When people see Americans volunteering in their countries, it helps to counter anti-American sentiment around the world, which is often responsible for fueling terrorism.
Once again, ya gotta hand to it to the Navy SEAL's, my hats off to them and I'm just glad that they're on our side.
WELL said Average Guy!
Thanks, I just don't understand certain things about peoples thinking and how they process information sometimes, you would think that the fact that there are black people and white people and asian people and so on would be all the proof anyone needs that the human species is in the process of changing and adapting to it's various worldwide environments right? No. Evolution is just a theory because the Pope asked God and he told him so.
Of coarse apparently it don't matter to Christians that the Christian bible says that God made man from the ground, and that the Theory of Evolution is the idea that man is made from the ground :) An American Cristian is so brainwashed (and I am a Christian, just not an idiot one) that they don't even believe the words in the bible if the people who run the church tell them not to.
So it's no wonder in this country that one of the best Presidents we've had in a long time is being accused of being the worst President we've had in a long time...
What? His post's are just rambling posts with no clear structure or point. The only thing you can possibly gleam is that he is anti-republican.
Average Guy, Evolution is a theory because it cannot be proven as a law. Not for some ridiculous reason as "The Pope asked God and he told him so", as if scientists would let that keep a theory from becoming a law. Believe it or not, scientists actually have very strict definitions for "theory" and "laws"
For instance, Issac Newton had a "Theory" of gravity that was pretty accurate, but that doesn't make it a law.
I'm starting to get sick of you bigotry, avarege guy. The hypothesis of evolution is a complete joke. The fossil record dosn't support it, geology dosn't support it, astronamy and paleontology don't support... Heck, more and more scientists are now question the hypothesis of evolution.
Now i know why you named yourself ''avarage guy''
''Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider'' -George Carlin
Do some homework and reasearch before spewing your bigotry and ignorance all over the comments section.
And all those things you just mentioned, such as astronomy, geology and paleontology disprove that myth that is the Bible and it's claim of the earth only being a few thousand years old.
Note to Republicans...Navy Seals do not do ANYTHING like this without the President's approval and thought ful decisonmaking. You don't have to be angry to get things done.
Thank God the Democrats orchestrated this one and Rethugs were not involved. They never met a war they did not hate. Warmongering Republicans. God Bless You President Obama abd God Bles the Seal who made your orders happen.
Might want to see how many democratric presidents, senetors and congressmen there were during the last few wars...
Good job.....fantastic - professionally. Imagine if all nations were just as consistent asyou Americans .... thanks ... Do not forget those who are still sitting there.
It was staged for political mileage. The raid was set eight days ago and delayed by the whitehouse for mileage....endangering lives....
Idiots....
@sloppy Joe... The only IDIOT here is you. Get over yourself
I'm just wondering when the next time Republicans are planning on taking hostages? My guess would be serious thought should cross their minds if they plan on holding the American people hostage again.
God, Obama!! First Bin Ladin, then, the American terrorist, then, a few other of his co-horts, and now this daring raid to retrive Americans?????? Damn you, how can the Republicans say bad things about your foreign policy if you keep this stuff up? I mean, Really, Lay off a bit so the Republicans have at least some credible ammunition against you!! If you keep this stuff up, They will just have to start Lying about you..............and we wouldn't want that to happen!!!!!
Come on james, Rom/ney would create a commission to study the problem. Well, maybe, that depends...
Believe it or not, Demos criticized Bush when he used the Seals this way. "Cheney's secret assasination ring"-look it up. Now why aren't they criticizing the current President? Hmm....
However lets not let that dampen the Seals success.... At least they get treated right by the dems. AND repubs now. GO SEALS!
Did bush get anyone, except the rat in the hole that had nothing to do with 911?
Yes, the SEALS were involved in many operations before Obama took office, I'm sorry to burst your bubble.
Got any links to that?
#War_in_Afghanistan
The second Medal of Honor (highest award possible) awarded in the Afghan War was given to a Navy Seal.
#Afghanistan
The Seals were among the first units in Afghanistan. There is a ton of information regarding their effectiveness.
President Bush is known as one of the Special Ops biggest supporters, from 2001 til the end of his Presidency increased the Seals budget by 3fold and increased the amount of Seals in use by 4 fold. I can't find the info on this information right now, but will post as soon as i find it.
Sorry, my links are not working. Basically you can find a lot of information on wikipedia under "Medal of Honor in Afghanistan" and "Navy Seals>Operations in Afghanistan, and all of it has links to sources.
I'm not really Republican or Dem. but to just take all the glory and bash the other guy for his hard work is simply insulting. You're assuming the Seals just grow on trees or something and don't need 2 years to be extensively trained and years of service to qualify for these types of teams.
20 years active service and 20 years Air Guard, now retired from both. I KNOW what the military can do.
I'm not insulting anyone, I know what they go through just to qualify for their training.It's the vlosest to hell that I can think of. This is the BEW way to fight a war with special ops, gone are the days of massive armies opposing each other with massive death. Seals ans the Green Berets are the way to go now.
20 years is pretty impressive. Thanks for your work.
GO SEALS :D
Starbuck - Don't forget about the Rangers, MARSCOM, Nightstalkers and all the other forces that support them!
It gets the mission accomplished and would NOT cost 1 trillion dollars and thousands of lives lost. This is 1 way future wars will be fought, with surgical precision.
Dabears54---The Seals do an awesome job year round. The comment wasn't about the Seals, but about the leadership of the President. Bush, while playing Golf, said that Bin Laden wasn't a big deal. Obama has taken action, period. Bush did nothing other than throw this country into huge debt. I still don't understand why defenders of the Republicans don't see the obvious! Actions speak louder than the shallow words of the Republican Party.