French forces rescue hostage held in Mali since 2011

Islamic Extremism

Nigerian special forces run past Chadian troops in an hostage rescue exercise at the end of the Flintlock exercise in Mao, Chad, Saturday, March 7, 2015. The U.S. military and its Western partners conduct this training annually and set up plans long before Boko Haram began attacking its neighbors Niger, Chad and Cameroon. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

French special forces on Monday freed a Dutchman held hostage since being kidnapped in 2011 by extremists in Mali, the government said. There was no immediate word on the fate of two other men abducted at the same time.

The military said the rescue of Sjaak Rijke took place at 5 a.m. Monday in far northern Mali. French President Francois Hollande said some militants were killed and others were captured. Monday’s statement did not identify who was holding Rijke, but the Dutchman appeared in a video posted in November by al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb.

Some 3,000 French forces are taking part in the mission to stabilize Mali, which was overrun by al-Qaida-linked Islamic extremists until French troops came to the aid of Malian soldiers in January 2013. Hollande said the special forces had planned the operation against the extremists without knowing Rijke was among them.

Rijke was abducted by extremists in November 2011 from a hostel in Timbuktu along with Johan Gustafsson of Sweden and Stephen Malcolm of South Africa, who holds dual British citizenship. A German died in the attack. Officials in France and the Netherlands did not say whether there was any news of Gustafsson or Malcolm.

France said Rijke was safely evacuated to a French operating base in Tassalit.

Report filed by The Associated Press.