Washington, Nov 1, 2020-
The Pentagon has confirmed that US special operations forces have successfully rescued an American hostage in Nigeria, who was abducted last week.
“US forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of October 31 in northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men,” CNN quoted Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman as saying in a statement on Saturday night.
“This American citizen is safe and is now in the care of the US Department of State. No US military personnel were injured during the operation,” .
“We appreciate the support of our international partners in conducting this operation. The US will continue to protect our people and our interests anywhere in the world,” Hoffman was quoted as saying further in the statement.
An informed source told CNN that the mission was conducted by the Navy’s elite SEAL Team 6 who were flown to the region by Air Force special operations.
Saturday’s development comes after the Department of State earlier last week had confirmed that the American citizen was abducted.
The person’s identity has not been made public.
Reacting to the news, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “Thanks to the extraordinary courage and capabilities of our military, the support of our intelligence professionals, and our diplomatic efforts, the hostage will be reunited with his family.
“We will never abandon any American taken hostage.”
While thanking the special operations for the rescue, President Donald Trump said that more details of the incident will be shared in “a very short period of time”, CNN reported.
“I want to thank the special forces. We had a tremendous event happen and really these are incredible people that do this,” Trump told media persons. (Agency)
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