The same elite Navy SEAL unit that killed Osama bin Laden took part in a daring nighttime rescue in Somalia of a woman with ties to the Tri-State and a Danish foreign aid worker, officials said Wednesday.
The personnel attached to Naval Special Warfare Development Group, also known as DEVGRU, were part of the joint Special Operations force that rescued the hostages, CNN has confirmed. DEVGRU, formally known as SEAL Team Six, is one of several units that make up the storied fighting force.
The SEALs entered Somalia on Tuesday in the same fashion they arrived at bin Laden's Pakistan compound in May 2011, in helicopters, descending on the compound where the hostages were held, a U.S. official with knowledge of the rescue said. The official is not authorized to speak to the media and asked not to be named.
Nine gunmen were killed in the strike, the U.S. military said. There are conflicting reports of the number of wounded.
The hostages, Jessica Buchanan and Poul Thisted, were abducted in October after they visited humanitarian projects in the northern part of Somalia, according to a Danish Refugee Council who employed them. Both are unharmed and at a safe location, the aid group said.
Buchanan, 32, who has family in Clarksville, Ohio, attended Ridgeville Christian High School in Springboro.
"It just takes your breath away, their capacity and their bravery and their incredible timing," Vice President Joe Biden said Wednesday morning, referring to the unit's capabilities.
The Navy SEALs evolved from several specialized Navy commando teams that came into being during World War II, when the United States realized that to invade enemy-held territory in North Africa, Europe and the Pacific, it needed savvy, quick-thinking fighters who could perform reconnaissance at sea.
Beyond tactical expertise, the SEALs -- short for Sea, Air and Land teams -- needed to have extraordinary physical strength.
The force became known for their jack-of-all-trade skills, able to survey China's Yangtze River disguised as Chinese nationals in 1945 or conduct demolition raids on railroad tunnels and bridges along the Korean coast during the Korean War.
The SEAL moniker came after President John F. Kennedy spoke about his admiration for special forces troops and his hope that the U.S. military would better enhance its ability to engage in unconventional warfare, countering guerrilla and clandestine operations.
There was a new and pressing need for more advanced military techniques during the time. Among other missions, the SEALs were deployed to act as advisers and train South Vietnamese commandos.
Vietnam was the first American war to be broadcast widely on television and other media, and woven into popular culture for mainstream consumption. It solidified the image of the SEAL as the ultimate tough guy, a reputation burnished by reports of SEALs' ability to do face-to-face combat with Vietcong and stories of their work with the CIA.
The relationship between America's spy agency and its elite troops was crucial to gaining real-time intelligence for missions sometimes carried out at the last minute -- perhaps an asset more important now than ever, experts have said. The war against al Qaeda is just as much about obtaining reliable intelligence as it is winning on the battlefield.
SEAL victories have been many. During the Vietnam War, they performed a covert operation called the Phoenix Program which captured Vietcong sympathizers.
In the Iran-Iraq war, SEAL teams conducted missions to counter Iranian mine-laying boats. The first military flag officer to set foot in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001, was a SEAL in charge of all special operations for Central Command, according to the SEALs history page on its web site.
The site says SEALs commanded Task Force K-BAR, which oversaw the Navy, Air Force and Coalition Special Operations Forces at the beginning of Operation Enduring Freedom. They carried out more than 75 special reconnaissance and direct action missions, destroyed more than 500,000 pounds of explosives and weapons, identified enemy personnel and conducted operations that searched for terrorists trying to flee the country by sea.
The largest deployment of SEALs in the group's history came during the Iraq War, with SEALs directing missions that included securing all of the southern oil infrastructures of the Al-Faw peninsula and the offshore gas and oil terminals, clearing critical waterways so that aid could flow into the country. Several high-value terrorist targets were captured by the SEALs, including Ahmed Hashim Abed, the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater guards in Fallujah in 2004.
Another high-profile mission came in 2009 when a SEAL team rescued the American captain of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama, which had been hijacked by Somali pirates off Somalia's coast. SEAL snipers were on the deck of a ship and fired simultaneously three times, hitting three pirates who were holding the captain.
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