A government official from Yemen confirmed that American special forces participated in a joint rescue mission to free hostages of the terrorist group Al Qaeda, New York Times reported.
The operation carried out by Yemeni and American commandos took place in Hadharmaut Province on Tuesday morning. They were able to rescue eight hostages from various nations.
However, the Yemeni official said the special forces were not able to free five hostages, as they were moved by members of the terrorist organization once the raid began. The five captives include an American journalist and a British national.
The Pentagon's press secretary, Rear Admiral John F. Kirby, confirmed that a raid was conducted on the province. However, he did not directly confirmed the participation of American forces.
"I would just tell you we continue to support Yemeni counterterrorism efforts and would refer you to them to talk to any operations," the officer said during a press conference.
Details of the operation were revealed by Abu Marouf, a member of Yemen's special forces who also participated in the rescue mission. He made the revelation through the 26sep.net news site, which is partly owned by the Yemen Defense Ministry.
According to Marouf, the operation was carried out after the governments of both countries learned that the extremists were transporting hostages using pick-up trucks. The captives, who were chained and covered with blankets, were taken to Al Qaeda-controlled caves in the province, Huffington Post reported.
A rescue mission was immediately organized which relied on the joint effort by Yemeni forces and the SEAL Team Six. This is an elite component of the U.S. Navy which conducted the raid on Osama Bin Laden's compound in 2012, according to Daily Mail.
The soldiers were then deployed seven kilometers from the location of the hostages. Divided into four teams, the commandos raided the caves and engaged in a shoot-out with the seven kidnappers from Al Qaeda. All of the kidnappers were killed and none of the hostages were harmed during the operation.
"We found the eight hostages chained," Marouf told the Yemeni news site. "We found Al Qaeda cellphones and documents."
Despite freeing eight captives, the Yemeni soldier noted that some of the kidnappers were able to escape with five hostages.
