Paris--While French special forces on Monday succeeded in rescuing a Dutch national kidnapped nearly four years ago in northern Mali, other such operations have proved more risky. In the case of Monday's raid, French President Francois Hollande said the hostage's presence was a surprise since soldiers were not aware of his location prior to the assault on the extremists.
- December 6, 2014: American photojournalist Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie, a South African teacher, are killed by their captors in Yemen during a failed raid by US special forces to free them from their Al-Qaeda kidnappers.
- January 12, 2013: Two French soldiers and 17 Islamists are killed when some 50 French commandos make a failed bid south of Mogadishu to free a French intelligence officer. The officer, alias Denis Allex and who was captured by the al-Qaeda linked Shebab in Somalia in 2009, also died.
- January 25, 2012: American special forces free a Danish aid worker and her American colleague who had been detained for three months in Somalia, killing nine of their abductors during a commando operation in a region which has served as a pirate hotspot.
- May 31, 2012: A German engineer, abducted on January 26 on the outskirts of Kano in northern Nigeria, is executed by his abductors during a military assault aimed at freeing him.
- March 8, 2012: Two engineers, a Briton and an Italian, held hostage in Nigeria since May 2011, are killed by their captors as a rescue operation by Nigerian forces backed by British troops prepares to save them. Italy protests that it was not informed before the operation.
- January 7, 2011: Two young Frenchmen -- Antoine De Leocour and Vincent Delory -- are abducted by members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in Niger's capital Niamey. De Leocour is executed by the group while Vincent Delory dies in a fire during an assault by French special forces.
- October 8, 2010: British aid worker Linda Norgrove is killed in Afghanistan during a raid by the American army aimed at freeing her from her Taliban captors. An inquiry carried out by the United States and Britain will reveal that she was killed by injuries sustained by an American grenade. The soldiers involved hid from their superior officers the use of this weapon, saying she had been killed by her abductors.
- July 25, 2010: AQIM claims the execution of a Frenchman, Michel Germaneau, who was abducted in Niger in April and taken to Mali. A Franco-Mauritanian raid carried out on July 22 to attempt to free him failed. Seven members of AQIM were killed.
AFP
