On January 25, 2012, a team of United States Navy SEALs raided a compound 12 miles north of the Somali city of Adado, killing nine

Somali pirates Somali may refer to: Horn of Africa * Somalis, an inhabitant or ethnicity associated with Greater Somali Region ** Proto-Somali, the ancestors of modern Somalis ** Somali culture ** Somali cuisine ** Somali language, a Cushitic language ** Somali, ...

and freeing their

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or refr ...

s, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted.

Background

In October 2011, Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, who had been working on a

demining Demining or mine clearance is the process of removing land mines from an area. In military operations, the object is to rapidly clear a path through a minefield, and this is often done with devices such as mine plows and blast waves. By cont ...

project with the Danish Refugee Council, were

kidnap In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

ped by Somali

pirate Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and other valuable goods. Those who conduct acts of piracy are called pirates, v ...

s in

Galkayo Galkayo ( so, Gaalkacyo, ar, جالكعيو Dr Badal Kariye Ba Bsit Ma Mba & Phd, ''The Kaleidoscopic Lover: The Civil War in the Horn of Africa & My Itinerary for a Peaceful Lover'', (AuthorHouse: 2010), p.116.) which in Af-Somali translates to ...

. Attempts by the Council to enlist local Somali elders and traditional leaders to assist in freeing the hostages were unsuccessful, and the pirates refused an offer of US$1.5 million ransom. With Buchanan's health declining, U.S. officials decided to launch a raid against the pirates using several different United States special operations forces, including elements of the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group.

Raid

Early on January 25, 2012, two dozen Navy SEALs parachuted from a C-130 Hercules two miles north of the Somali town of Adado, Galguduud, where pirates were holding the hostages with the intention of ransoming them. The SEALs then traveled by foot from their

drop zone A drop zone (DZ) is a place where parachutists or parachuted supplies land. It can be an area targeted for landing by paratroopers, or a base from which recreational parachutists and skydivers take off in aircraft and land under parachutes. In ...

, attacked the compound, and engaged the pirates, killing all nine of them. A first-hand account of the raid appears in former DEVGRU operator Justin. K Sheffield's 2020 book ''MOB VI: A Seal Team Six Operator's Battles in the Fight for Good Over Evil''.

Aftermath

Barack Obama informs John Buchanan that his daughter has been rescued

After raiding the pirates' compound and freeing the hostages, the U.S. forces returned to their base at Camp Lemonnier in

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

. The President of

Galmudug Galmudug ( ar, جلمدج; it, Galmudugh), officially Galmudug State of Somalia ( so, Dowlad Goboleedka Galmudug ee Soomaaliya), is a Federal Member State in central Somalia, with its capital at Dhusamareb. It is bordered to the north by the Pu ...

(a state within Somalia) thanked the United States for conducting the raid. U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

congratulated Defense Secretary

Leon Panetta Leon Edward Panetta (born June 28, 1938) is an American Democratic Party politician who has served in several different public office positions, including Secretary of Defense, CIA Director, White House Chief of Staff, Director of the Office of ...

before his 2012 State of the Union address, without publicly revealing any details at that time. Buchanan gave her first interview about being kidnapped with '' 60 Minutes'' in May 2013; amongst her first thoughts when kidnapped were that it was too soon to die without having children and saying goodbye to her loved ones. Buchanan and her husband returned to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and now have a son.

References

{{coord missing, Somalia 2012 in international relations 2012 in Somalia 2010s missing person cases January 2012 events in Africa Battles in 2012 Buchanan Formerly missing people Hostage rescue operations Kidnapped people Missing person cases in Somalia Operations involving American special forces Buchanan Piracy in Somalia Violent non-state actor incidents in Africa Somali Civil War (2009–present) Presidency of Barack Obama Denmark–Somalia relations Denmark–United States relations Somalia–United States relations Galguduud

Background

Raid

Aftermath

See also

References