Kidnapped Christian peace activists rescued in military swoop
It ended a four-month hostage drama in which an American among the group was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.
Major General Rick Lynch, the US military spokesman, said the hostages were held by a “kidnapping cell” in a western Baghdad house, and the operation to free the captives was based on information from a man captured by US forces only three hours earlier.
“They were bound, they were together, there were no kidnappers in the areas,” Lynch told a news briefing.
He said military operations concerning other hostages were ongoing, “probably as a result of what we’re finding at this time”.
Still missing is Jill Carroll, a freelance writer for The Christian Science Monitor who was kidnapped on January 7 in Baghdad. She has appeared in three videotapes delivered by her kidnappers to Arab satellite television stations.
When asked whether he had any information about Carroll, Lynch said: “None that I can discuss.”
“There are other operations that continue, probably as a result of what we’re finding at this time,” Lynch said.
The Iraqi Interior Ministry said the three captives were rescued north-west of Baghdad between the towns of Mishahda, 20 miles away from Baghdad, and the western suburb of Abu Ghraib, 12 miles away.
The freed hostages were Canadians James Loney, aged 41, Harmeet Singh Sooden, aged 32, and Briton Norman Kember, aged 74. The men - members of the Chicago-based Christian Peacemaker Teams (CPT) - were kidnapped on November 26 along with US colleague, Tom Fox.
The body of Fox, 54, was found earlier this month.
Norman Kember said it was “great to be free” after four months in captivity.
His wife Pat, of Pinner, north west London, who made a video appeal for his release, was “elated”.
Mr Kember was expected back in Britain in the next two days.
His brother Ian Kember said: “This has been the news we have been waiting for a long time.”
Speaking from his home in Taunton, Somerset, England, Ian Kember said: “It’s a wonderful thing, and it’s obviously a great relief, but beyond that I haven’t come to terms with it yet.”
Loney’s brother, Ed, told CBC television that his mother had spoken with James on the phone and he sounded “fantastic”.
“He’s alert and he was asking how we were doing and said he was sorry for the whole situation,” Ed Loney said. “My mom said, ‘Don’t worry about it - just get home and we’ll talk about all that stuff.’”
The kidnapped men 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. Fox’s body was found March 10 near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshot wounds to his head and chest.
Iraqi police said at the time it appeared that Fox had been tortured. But Claire Evans of CPT in Chicago said two group members viewed Fox’s body and said it showed no signs of torture.
The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades had claimed responsibility for the kidnappings.
“As we study who could conduct these kinds of operations there seems to be a kidnapping cell that has been robust over the last several months in conducting these kind of kidnappings,” Lynch said.
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