Particulars stay restricted, however the U.S. army has disclosed that American particular operations forces lately recovered of hostage from someplace on or close to the African continent. Though any connection is unconfirmed at the moment, representatives of the Catholic Church did announce at present that Suellen Tennyson, an 83-year-old nun who was kidnapped within the northwest African nation of Burkina Faso earlier this yr, is now secure.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers Army Gen. Mark Milley first revealed the operation throughout a speech at a ceremony yesterday to mark the turnover of command of SOCOM from Army Gen. Richard Clarke to Army Gen. Bryan Fenton. In the midst of these remarks, Milley ran via a listing of notable U.S. particular operations forces accomplishments below Clarke’s tenure.
“Underneath Wealthy’s command, SOCOM groups rescued a U.S. citizen in Nigeria simply 96 hours after seize. They eradicated [Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Gen. Qassem] Soleimani, [and ISIS head Abu Bakr Al] Baghdadi,” the Chairman stated. “And most lately, within the final 48 hours, they recovered one other hostage.”
The operation in Nigeria that Milley talked about was the rescue of Philip Walton, the son of a Christian missionary who had been captured in neighboring Niger in 2020. You may learn extra about how U.S. particular operations forces efficiently retrieved Walton, a mission that concerned CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotors supported by numerous tankers flying long-distance from a base in Spain, right here.
In response to queries relating to this newly revealed operation, SOCOM directed The Struggle Zone to contact U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM). We have now not but acquired a response from AFRICOM, which is headquartered in Germany.
A spokesperson for the Joint Workers advised The Struggle Zone that they had nothing so as to add to Milley’s remarks when contacted.
The Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans and Bishop Theophile Nare of the Kaya Diocese in Burkina Faso each subsequently issued statements in regards to the launch of Sister Tennyson. The nun is a member of the order of the Marianites of the Holy Cross who had been serving in a parish in Burkina Faso since 2014. She was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in April.
Sister Tennyson shouldn’t be the one overseas hostage in captivity throughout Africa. As of 2020, there have been a minimum of six have been being held by numerous teams simply within the Sahel area of Africa, which separates the Sahara Desert from true Sub-Saharan Africa. Probably the most well-known of those people is Jeffery Woodke, a Christian missionary help employee, who was kidnapped in Niger in 2016. Woodke is at the moment understood to be within the custody of parts of Jama’at Nasr Al Islam Wal Muslimin, or JNIM, an Al Qaeda franchise based mostly in Mali that was shaped from the merger of a lot of regional terrorist teams in 2017.
In 2017, then-AFRICOM commander Marine Corps Gen. Thomas Waldhauser, who has since retired, stated that a botched counter-terrorism operation in Niger that left 4 American service members and plenty of extra Nigerien troops useless – which you’ll be able to learn extra about right here – was associated to the efforts to rescue Woodke. A subsequent exhaustive investigation that ABC News carried out, which resulted in a documentary referred to as 3212 Un-Redacted, discovered no proof to substantiate that, and plenty of questions nonetheless stay about that incident.
In November 2021, Woodke’s spouse, Els Woodke, publicly lambasted U.S. authorities efforts to safe her husband’s launch and stated that American authorities have been impeding her efforts to lift cash to pay a multi-million greenback ransom. A U.S. official advised the AP in response to her remarks that the U.S. authorities’s coverage of taking all steps to disclaim hostage takers concessions, reminiscent of ransoms, “doesn’t preclude america authorities from serving to hostage households with non-public efforts to speak with hostage takers.”
It doesn’t matter what, it’s definitely good to listen to that there’s a minimum of one much less hostage on the market.
We are going to replace this story as extra info turns into accessible.
The Struggle Zone has now acquired an announcement from U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Timothy S. Pietrack, a spokesperson for U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM), which confirms the operations did happen and supplies extra particulars, however doesn’t id the hostage. The complete assertion is as follows:
On the afternoon of August 29, U.S. Africa Command personnel facilitated the secure turnover of an American citizen who had been held hostage by terrorists in a distant space of West Africa.
U.S. Africa Command wish to thank all of our African and worldwide companions who supplied glorious cooperation over the months main as much as this restoration, particularly, the federal government of Niger, who have been important to this effort.
The robust partnerships we have solid with our African and worldwide companions allow us to reply to advanced and shared threats.
Individually, the U.S. State Division advised VOA that there had been a “launch of a U.S. citizen in Niger who had been held hostage in West Africa.”
“This particular person will quickly be reunited with family members,” a State Division spokesman added of their assertion to VOA. “It’s the want of the person to stay non-public at the moment, and we ask that every one respect that want.”
Contact the creator: joe@thedrive.com
