Two Frenchmen, one American, and one South Korean were abducted and taken to Burkina Faso, in West Africa. The location where French citizens Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas were abducted. Google Maps French citizens Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, both of them tourists, were visiting a wildlife preserve in Benin when they were abducted on May 1. Their tour guide was fatally shot and their car was burned. The South Korean and American hostages, both of them women, were held for 28 days. The US State Department did not release the American hostage's name due to privacy concerns but said she was in her 60s. The French Foreign Ministry previously issued a travel guidance in the region. Source: NPR, Vox, NBC News<doc-sep>French soldiers led a raid to rescue two tourists who had been kidnapped in the West African country of Burkina Faso, and ended up also freeing an American and a South Korean who they were unaware were being held. Several U.S. officials told ABC News that the U.S. government was unaware until Friday that the American woman was being held. The raid resulted in the death of two French soldiers. The two former French hostages and Korean hostage were brought to the Presidential Palace of Kosyam in Ouagadougou at about 8:50 a.m. local time on Saturday. French hostage Laurent Lassimouillas paid tribute to the French soldiers killed during the operation in a short statement, saying, "All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell, we wanted to offer our condolences right away." The U.S. woman was not with the other three rescued hostages. Her name has not been released, but a U.S. official described her as being in her 60s. U.S. forces were not involved in the raid, French defense officials said at a news conference in Paris, but did provide some intelligence support, which helped French forces locate the hostages and their kidnappers. “It seems these two other hostages [the American and South Korean] had been held hostage for 28 days,” said Francois Lecointre, the chief of staff of the French armed forces. French Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly said French authorities “don’t know much" about the American and South Korean women but that “they are in a safe place.” Conversations with U.S. and South Korean officials appeared to confirm that neither country had known about the hostages, Parly said. French officials didn’t share the American’s identity or provide any more information about her. The spokesperson with the U.S. State Department confirmed that an American had been freed, but would not say if U.S. officials were aware, prior to the raid, that an American woman was being held hostage. “We are grateful for the successful recovery of four hostages, including a U.S. citizen,” the spokesperson said. “We offer sincerest condolences to the families of the two French soldiers killed during the operation.” The two French tourists had been on safari in the Pendjari National Park in Benin, near the Burkina Faso border, when they disappeared along with their tour guide on May 1. Three days later, the tour guide, identified as Fiacre Gbedji, was found dead in the park, according to Benin’s Ministry of Interior and Public Safety. Al-Qaida and ISIS were known to operate in the area, officials said at the press conference, but they did not say that either of those groups, or any Islamist extremist groups, were involved. The French soldiers who died have been identified as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello, and both were under the command of the special operations, the French president said in a statement. ABC News' James Meek contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Francois Guillot, Pool, Reuters | French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defence Minister Florence Parly walk alongside freed French hostages Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas and a South Korean hostage as they arrive in Paris, May 11, 2019 Three former hostages, including two French nationals, arrived in Paris on Saturday evening after being rescued from a militant group in Burkina Faso by French special forces in a night-time raid. Two of the soldiers were killed in the operation. Advertising Read more The two French former hostages, Laurent Lassimouillas, 46, and Patrick Picque, 51, were met by French President Emmanuel Macron, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Defence Minister Florence Parly at Villacoublay military airport. "France's message to terrorists is clear: those who want to attack France, the French, should know that we will hunt them, we will find them, and we will kill them," Parly said. A South Korean embassy official was present to greet the unnamed third hostage. An American female hostage also freed in the nighttime rescue on Thursday was handed over to US officials in Burkina Faso. 'Co-operation of terror groups raises risks in Sahel' Addressing reporters at the airport Saturday, Lassimouillas admitted that he and Picque should have heeded the French foreign ministry's advice to avoid risky areas of Benin. "We certainly should have better taken into account the government's advice as well as the complexities of Africa," he said. "Our first thoughts go to the families of the soldiers who freed us from this hell," he continued. A ceremony of national tribute will be held at the Invalides military hospital and mausoleum in Paris on Tuesday for the two soldiers who were killed in this “highly complex operation”, as Parly described the raid on Friday. Kidnapped tourists were in Benin 'red zone' Lassimouillas and Picque disappeared during a tour of Pendjari National Park in Benin on May 1. They were seized by kidnappers in an area of Benin that France has long advised travellers to avoid, Le Drian pointed out earlier on Saturday. "The zone where our two citizens were has for some time now been considered a red zone, which means it's a zone where you shouldn't go, where you're taking significant risks if you do go," Le Drian told Europe 1 radio. French tourists warned to avoid Benin's 'red zone' The foreign ministry's travel advisory website lists the areas of northern Benin near the border with Burkina Faso as "Formally Discouraged," including Pendjari National Park. It warns of "the presence of armed terrorist groups and the risk of kidnapping". The disfigured body of their guide was found shortly after they were reported missing, along with their abandoned Toyota truck. Intelligence agencies tracked their captors across the semi-desert terrain of eastern Burkina Faso, where it appeared they would soon cross the border into Mali. Officials feared the hostages would be handed over to the Macina Liberation Front (FLM), a jihadist group formed in 2015 that is aligned with al Qaeda in the region. Macron gave the order for the nighttime raid on the militants' camp on Thursday. The French commandos were unaware of the presence of the American and South Korean hostages, officials said. 'France's duty is to rescue its citizens wherever they are' Although Benin has long been spared the unrest seen in Mali and Burkina Faso, French officials have warned that jihadist insurgents could extend their operations into the sparsely populated desert regions further south. "The threat is evolving and has become much more mobile, and now countries to the south of Mali have become targets," Le Drian said on Saturday. "The greatest precautions must be taken in these regions to avoid these types of kidnappings, and avoid the sacrifices required by our soldiers," he said. France's Operation Barkhane counts some 4,500 troops deployed in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad to help local forces battle jihadist groups. The raid on the kidnappers was led by the elite Hubert commando unit of the French naval special forces, which was deployed to the Sahel at the end of March. They were assisted by Burkina and Benin authorities and by the United States, which provided intelligence and support. A total of 24 French soldiers have died in the region since 2013 when France intervened to drive back jihadist groups who had taken control of northern Mali. (FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>OUAGADOUGOU/PARIS (Reuters) - Three hostages freed by French commandos from militants in Burkina Faso arrived in Paris on Saturday, expressing sorrow at the death of two French soldiers in the rescue operation. President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the hostages as they stepped off the French government jet less than 48 hours after French special forces stormed their captors’ hideout in a daring night-time raid. Two Frenchmen kidnapped while on safari in Benin more than a week earlier, as well as an American woman and a South Korean woman who were being held with them, were liberated in the high-risk mission authorized by Macron. The American, who has not been identified, was being repatriated separately. “All our thoughts go to the families of the soldiers and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell,” Laurent Lassimouillas earlier told reporters as he met Burkinabe President Roch Kabore in Ouagadougou. The French government identified the two soldiers killed as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. Macron will lead a national tribute to the men, both officers in the naval special forces, at the Les Invalides military hospital and mausoleum in Paris on Tuesday. Lassimouillas also expressed regret over the death of the Beninese park guide, who was shot dead when the two tourists were kidnapped. Slideshow ( 11 images ) ISLAMIST INSURGENCY French officials said on Friday it was not yet clear who had kidnapped them in Benin but that their captors planned to hand them over to an al Qaeda affiliate in neighboring Mali. Jihadist groups with links to al Qaeda and Islamic State have expanded their presence across West Africa’s Sahel region, a strip of scrubland beneath the Sahara desert, in recent years and taken a number of Western hostages. France, the former colonial power in the region, intervened in Mali in 2013 to halt an advance by Islamist militants and has kept about 4,500 troops in the Sahel since then. “France’s message to terrorists is clear: those who want to attack France, the French, should know that we will hunt them, we will find them, and we will kill them,” Defence Minister Florence Parly said after joining Macron at the Villacoublay military airport outside Paris. France was doing all it could to secure the release of another French hostage, Sophie Petronin, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. Gunmen kidnapped Petronin in December 2016 in the northern Malian city of Gao.<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.