Advertising Read more Paris (AFP) A South Korean hostage rescued by French special forces in Burkina Faso last week was a tourist travelling in the region who had been seized close to the border with Benin, an embassy official said on Monday. The woman, who has not been named, was flown to Paris on Saturday after being rescued in a raid by French commandoes overnight Thursday-Friday in which two soldiers died. "She was just travelling, she wasn't working. She had been on the road for close to one year," an official in the South Korean embassy in Paris told AFP. He added that the "regular tourist" had asked for her identity to be kept private. She had previously visited Senegal and Mali in west Africa, as well as other countries during a major trip from her home,a region "in the middle of South Korea," the official said. She was snatched around a month ago by armed men while attempting to cross by car from Burkina Faso into neighbouring Benin, apparently along with an American woman who was also rescued by the French forces. "That is my understanding (that the women were together), but we don't speak for the American lady," the official added. The US government has declined to comment about its national, but the ABC news channel has reported she was also a tourist, aged in her 60s. - 'Going home' - The South Korean woman, who appeared in between the two French hostages as they made a statement to the media on Saturday in Paris, has been admitted for a medical check up at a military hospital in Paris. "She doesn't have any particular problems," the official said. "She will be going back home, today or tomorrow." The embassy official confirmed that the woman had been held for 27-28 days in captivity and had been "moved from one place to another a few times". Asked about the identity of the hostage-takers, "she said she didn't know," the official added. "We dont know. You have to check with the French government." The official confirmed that the South Korean government had been unaware that one of its citizens was being held in the area. France's defence minister, Florence Parly, had previously told reporters that French forces staging the rescue had been surprised to find the South Korean and American women being held hostage alongside the two French tourists. - Freed from 'hell' - Parly did not say who was responsible for the kidnappings, but said the hostage-takers were planning to transfer their victims to Islamist groups in Mali who are aligned to either Al-Qaeda or Islamic State. The French hostages, Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, admitted that they should have heeded the French foreign ministry's advice on avoiding risky areas after they were seized in Benin close to the border with Burkina Faso. "We certainly should have better taken into account the government's advice as well as the complexities of Africa," Lassimouillas said in a statement. "Our first thoughts go to the families of the soldiers who freed us from this hell," he added. French President Emmanuel Macron will lead a commemoration ceremony for the slain commandoes in Paris on Tuesday at the Invalides military hospital and museum. ? 2019 AFP<doc-sep>The American hostage freed by a pre-dawn rescue operation in Burkina Faso last week would have been transferred to an Al Qaeda-linked group had the high-risk raid not occurred, according to French authorities. Two French tourists, a South Korean national and the U.S. woman were being transported north toward Mali when French special forces stormed their captors' hideout. Two French naval commandos were killed in the mission, which was authorized by President Emmanuel Macron. French commandos Cedric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello were killed freeing two French hostages as well as an American and a South Korean in Burkina Faso. AFP - Getty Images While the identity of their captors remains unclear, the hostages were destined to be transferred to a group known as Katibat Macina, French Army Chief of Staff Gen. Francois Lecointre said. The risk of them ending up with an extremist group in Mali — which would have made efforts to free them impossible — triggered the operation early Friday, Lecointre added. What is Katibat Macina? Katibat Macina — which is also known as the Macina Liberation Front — is a Malian terrorist group that is linked to Al Qaeda, according to Human Rights Watch. Led by Malian preacher Amadou Kouffa, Katibat Macina is particularly active in the central Malian region of Mopti close to the border with Burkina Faso, according to Andrew Lebovich, an expert in the region and a visiting fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. Lebovich said it has ties to Ansar ul Islam, a jihadist group that was initially active in northern Burkina Faso but that has rapidly expanded. Jacob Zenn, a fellow on African affairs at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation research institute, said Katibat Macina was essentially a Mali-based outgrowth of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. "As they have extended toward the Burkina Faso border, they have basically formed a Burkinabe subgroup of themselves called Ansar ul Islam," he added. The group aims to gradually set up an Islamic caliphate in the region, according to Zenn. In 2017, the group merged with four other Malian Al Qaeda-linked groups under the name Jama'at Nasr al-Islam wal Muslimin or "Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims," according to Human Rights Watch. Who were their captors? While French authorities have said the captors wanted to transfer the hostages to Katibat Macina, they have not given any specific information about who kidnapped the foreign nationals in the first place. French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly has said only that there are "two principal terrorist movements that operate in this zone — one is affiliated with Al Qaeda, and the other with the Islamic State." Freed French hostages Laurent Lassimouillas, left, and Patrick Picque, right, stand next to a South Korean counterpart who was not immediately identified after arriving at an airport near Paris on Saturday. FRANCOIS GUILLOT / AFP - Getty Images Analysts said the nature of militant organizations in the region made it difficult to pin down the culprits. "Groups sometimes share fighters or cooperate, or at a minimum, can occupy territory in proximity to each other without causing problems between the groups," Lebovich said. "The way you assess who is responsible is by looking at who’s been operating there and what the tactics were like," Zenn added. Four of the kidnappers were killed and two escaped, according to the French military chief. Who is the American hostage? Days after the rescue operation, little is known about the American woman who was freed. As the two French citizens and the South Korean woman were flown back to Paris, the American was nowhere to be seen. It is also unclear where the U.S. woman went missing, but Lecointre said she had been held for 28 days. The two rescued Frenchmen were kidnapped May 1 while on safari in the Pendjari National Park wildlife reserve in Benin. Their guide was later discovered dead. Burkina Faso President Roch Kabore said on Twitter on Saturday that he spent time with the three other freed hostages but did not mention the U.S. citizen. "All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell," ex-hostage Laurent Lassimouillas told reporters as he met with Kabore. The medals awarded to slain French commandos Cedric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello are presented during a ceremony in Paris on Tuesday. Philippe Wojazer / Pool via AP The U.S. Department of Defense has told NBC News that the U.S. woman is in her 60s but did not give any further details. The State Department confirmed a U.S. citizen was rescued but said "due to privacy considerations, we have no further information to share." French authorities have said they had no idea the American and South Korean hostages were also being held when the nighttime raid was launched. "We were not aware of their presence," French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told a news conference. Contacts with the United States and South Korea "show that these countries were probably not aware of the presence of their two nationals on Burkina Faso territory," she added. Parly called the rescue "an operation of rare difficulty" that grew more complex with the discovery of the American and the South Korean. Macron attended a ceremony in Paris paying tribute to slain commandos Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello on Tuesday.<doc-sep>French military forces freed four hostages, including an American woman, during a rescue operation in Burkina Faso. Two soldiers were killed during the rescue, according to France’s presidential palace. The raid had been focused on retrieving two French tourists, Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, who were abducted May 1 in Benin, a French-speaking country in West Africa, after leaving their hotel to go on a safari in a national park. Their safari guide was found dead. During the overnight Thursday raid, French special forces discovered two other hostages, an American woman and a South Korean. It is unclear when or where they went missing. U.S intelligence assisted in the rescue. French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday the country plans next week to honor the two Marine commandos who died in the operation, Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. "They gave their lives to free others,” Macron said. “On Tuesday, we will pay a national tribute to the Invalides to Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. From now on, let's bring our thoughts to their families and brothers in arms.” Macron also thanked the Beninese and Burkinabe authorities for their cooperation in the rescue. He assured them of “France's full willingness to help them in their fight against terrorism in the Sahel.” There has been increasing level of terrorist activity in the region by groups linked to al Qaeda and the Islamic State. The U.S. State Department has advised Americans to "reconsider travel" to Burkina Faso since April due to risk of "terrorism and kidnapping." It warns that "terrorist groups continue plotting attacks and kidnappings in Burkina Faso and may conduct attacks anywhere with no warning."<doc-sep>
(CNN) — A French hostage in Burkina Faso, freed in an overnight rescue this week in which two soldiers were killed, described the experience as “hell.” Laurent Lassimouillas was freed along with another Frenchman, an American woman and a South Korean woman in a French-led operation with the support of the US military. The rescue occurred between Thursday and Friday in the Sahel region of Burkina Faso. “I want to thank French authorities and Burkina Faso ones,” Lassimouillas told reporters at the presidential palace in the capital of Ouagadougou before a meeting with Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, Burkina Faso’s President. “Our thoughts are for the families of the soldiers and the soldiers who lost their (lives) to free us from this hell,” he added, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV. Lassimouillas, his compatriot, Patrick Picque, and the South Korean landed safely Saturday at a French air force base outside Paris, where French President Emmanuel Macron greeted them. The former hostages will receive a full health examination. The American woman was “directly collected by the Americans” in Burkina Faso, a press officer for France’s Élysée Palace told CNN. The French citizens were kidnapped May 1 in the neighboring West African country of Benin, according to the Élysée Palace. Their safari guide was found dead in Pendjari National Park, and their vehicle was burned, Reuters reported. Four terrorists were killed in the rescue operation, Florence Parly, the French minister for the armed forces, said Friday. The minister said investigations were underway to identify the kidnappers, noting that networks affiliated with al Qaeda and ISIS are known to operate in the area. Handout/AFP French soldiers Cedric de Pierrepont, left, and Alain Bertoncello were killed in the mission. The US military supported the French-led operation to free the four hostages, according to two US officials. One official said that the US support was in the form of overhead intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. French soldiers Cedric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello were killed in the operation. The two will be honored in a national tribute Tuesday, Macron said. “They gave their lives to release others,” the French leader wrote on Twitter. “From now on, let us carry our thoughts to their families and brothers of arms.” CNN’s Antoine Crouin reported from Paris, while Rob Picheta wrote in London. CNN’s Jennifer Deaton contributed to this report.