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Peace worker hostages freed in Iraq
« on: Mar 24th, 2006, 10:46am » |
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Troops act fast on intelligence to free hostages
Thursday, March 23, 2006; Posted: 7:35 p.m. EST (00:35 GMT)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Just three hours after a newly captured detainee told them the location of three Christian aid workers, coalition troops on Thursday rescued the men who had been held hostage since November.
The two Canadians and a Briton were found bound but unguarded in a Baghdad house, U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch said.
The operation was conducted after coalition forces detained two people the night before, Lynch said.
One of the detainees knew where the hostages were. The operation was then conducted at 8 a.m. after surveillance and planning.
After medical checks, Briton Norman Kember, 74 and Canadians James Loney, 41, and Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32 -- members of the aid group Christian Peacemaker Teams -- were relaxing inside the British Embassy compound in Baghdad's high-security Green Zone, officials said.
"It's great to be free," Kember said in a statement released by the embassy. "I'm looking forward to getting back to the UK."
A fourth member of their team -- American Tom Fox, 54 -- was found dead on a Baghdad street on March 9. His body had gunshot wounds to the head and chest and showed signs of torture with hands and feet bound.
The four were abducted November 26 in Baghdad.
British Defense Secretary John Reid said British troops "spearheaded" the rescue operation. The U.S. military confirmed that U.S. special forces took part and said the operation was continuing and coalition forces were looking to gather further intelligence from the house where the men were held.
"I am delighted that now we have a happy ending in this terrible ordeal," British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said in announcing the rescue.
The hostages were shown as prisoners in several videos, the most recent a silent clip dated February 28 in which Loney, Kember and Sooden appeared without Fox.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.
In London, Kember's wife, Pat, told Reuters on Thursday: "Very good news, I'm delighted but I'm just waiting for more details."
She had appealed in a televised message aired by Al Jazeera television for his release.
Loney's brother also expressed elation in an interview with CBC television from his home in Vancouver, British Columbia.
"We're elated, we're really happy that this was resolved peacefully," The Associated Press quoted Ed Loney as saying.
"He's lost quite a bit of weight; but when my mom talked to him first he sounded fantastic. He's alert and he was asking how we were doing and said he was sorry for the whole situation. My mom said, 'Don't worry about it -- just get home and we'll talk about all that stuff when you get here.'"
Christian Peacemaker Teams posted a statement on its Web site expressing joy in the hostages' release but also criticizing the U.S.-led operation in Iraq.
"We believe that the illegal occupation of Iraq by Multinational Forces is the root cause of the insecurity which led to this kidnapping and so much pain and suffering in Iraq," the statement said. "The occupation must end."
'Weeks of careful work'
Thursday's military operation "follows weeks and weeks of very careful work by our military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well," Straw said.
Iraqi police Lt. Col. Falah al-Mohammedawi said it was believed the operation took place in Mishahda, 30 kilometers (20 miles) north of Baghdad, AP reported.
The news was greeted with joy by the hostages' friends and supporters.
Chris Cole, director of the Fellowship of Reconciliation, where Kember is a trustee, said: "We are obviously delighted to have Norman, James Loney and Harmeet Sooden free.
"It is what we have been hoping and praying for for months but at the same time we continue to mourn Tom Fox and to continue to think of his friends and family.
"We also continue to mourn all the lives lost in this dreadful war."
Kember's brother was overcome with emotion at the news of the release.
Speaking from his home in Taunton, England, Ian Kember said: "It's fresh news to me, I haven't got my thoughts together yet.
"It's a wonderful thing, and it's obviously a great relief, but beyond that I haven't come to terms with it yet.
"This has been the news we have been waiting for for a long time."
Former Guantanamo Bay detainee Moazzam Begg, who publicly pleaded for Norman Kember's release in December, said he was "ecstatic" at the news.
"I am extremely pleased. I am very, very happy and hope to meet him soon after he gets back here," Begg told the UK's Press Association. "It is the best news to come out of Iraq in a long time."
Other Americans taken hostage in Iraq and killed in addition to Fox, according to AP, were Ronald Schulz, 40, an industrial electrician from Anchorage, Alaska; Jack Hensley, 48, a civil engineer from Marietta, Georgia; Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, 52, formerly of Hillsdale, Michigan; and Nicholas Berg, 26, a businessman from West Chester, Pennsylvania.
Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped January 7 in Baghdad.
Copyright 2006 CNN.
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