Dutch citizen held captive in the Sahara for more than three years by the North African branch of Al Qaeda was freed on Monday by French special forces, who mounted a rescue operation without knowing whom they were trying to save.
French commandos raided a terrorist camp in northern Mali at 5 a.m., killed the fighters there after an exchange of gunfire and found Sjaak Rijke, the Dutch hostage, said Col. Gilles Jaron, a spokesman for the French Army’s chief of staff.
These are not easy things to do.
