Posted on 03/23/2006 12:57:40 PM PST by aculeus
Briton Norman Kember and his Canadian colleagues James Loney and Harmeet Singh Sooden were freed after a multinational military raid acting on information provided by a detainee, the US military says.
The rescue was completed without any shots being fired and with no kidnappers present, suggesting the operation was carefully planned and carried out.
But the crucial bit of intelligence that enabled the rescue came only after two men were captured by US forces on Wednesday night.
One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal.
"We got that information at 0800 (0500 GMT) this morning and we conducted the operation," said Maj Gen Rick Lynch.
"We moved to the location in western Baghdad that was reported for the location of the Christian Peacemaker Team.
"We conducted an assault on the house and inside the house we found the three hostages, in good condition.
"There were no kidnappers there at the time. The three hostages were by themselves."
The hostages were bound, he said.
Hostage James Loney reportedly confirmed that one person had led the forces to where they were held.
In a telephone conversation with a friend, Mr Loney is said to have described the kidnappers as a criminal gang.
Gen Lynch described the men thought to be responsible as "a kidnapping cell that has been robust over the last several months in conducting these kind of kidnappings".
Textbook operation
Multinational special forces, police negotiators and Iraqi intermediaries were understood to have taken part in the rescue, says the BBC's security correspondent Frank Gardner.
It was a textbook operation, our correspondent says.
The mission was spearheaded by British troops with the participation of forces from other coalition countries in Iraq.
"This was several weeks in the planning. It was an operation that was rolling, in a sense that it went on for some time," said the UK's Defence Secretary John Reid.
The multinational team included representatives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
"Other agencies from Canada - they did a terrific job with us as well as the Americans," UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said.
The foreign secretary said civilians had been involved in the operation "in the background".
Announcing the hostage release in London, Mr Straw said: "Mercifully no shots were fired."
This was clearly a major success for the British-led force, says the BBC's defence correspondent Rob Watson.
Although foreign hostages have been freed in Iraq before, most were released as the result of secret negotiations, many involving the payment of ransom money, our correspondent adds.
But the body of the fourth member of the Christian Peacemaker Teams - US hostage Tom Fox - was found dumped in Baghdad nearly two weeks ago.
Kidnap victims
At least about 43 foreigners are still being held in Iraq.
And it is thought some 10 to 30 Iraqis are kidnapped every day - most of them for ransom.
Overall more than 400 foreigners have been taken hostage since the US-led invasion - about 55 of them have been killed by their captors.
But it does appear fewer foreigners are now being taken and fewer killed, says our correspondent.
Story from BBC NEWS:
Published: 2006/03/23 14:53:21 GMT
© BBC MMVI
One of the suspects had the information which led officials to the Baghdad house where the hostages were four months into their ordeal.
Must have pantied the poor saps.
The next time these "hostages" are found, don't waste your time "rescuing" them.
It seems they don't want to be rescued.
bttt
Perhaps they played clips of Hillary Clinton shrieking until the suspects talked.
I've heard the "spokeswoman" on the radio but I haven't heard from the hostages themselves. I'll reserve judgement on them untilI get their statements and not the publicist of the group. In other words, until I hear from them, I won't take their moonbat "spokeswomans" words for theirs. Has anyone heard words directly from them?
They probably already assured the kidnappers that they would say all the right things after being rescued, so why not?
Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans
They weren't FREED. That implies the terrorists released the hostages of their own free will. It was a military rescue mission.
Rush also addressed this on his show today.
Gawd, I hope Bush didn't tap his phone calls.
Whatever happened to that Christian Science Monitor reporterette?
Metallica at the right volume can be very persuasive.
Still missing.
I don't know. Haven't seen her mentioned in a while.
The fool is lucky not to have a video of his head getting chopped on the web and still lives in denial about the nature of these terrorists. Amazing.
The spokes babe for the group said on Boortz this morning that to the best of her knowledge there were no captors present when the rescuers arrived. The activiste were released.She adamently refused to admit there was any military involvement at all.
If you see her on the street....spit on her.
that story went completely off the radar, didn't it?
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