May 10, 2019, 11:34 AM UTC / Updated May 10, 2019, 1:54 PM UTC LONDON — An American woman was among four hostages rescued in Burkina Faso overnight, according to France's presidential palace. Laurent Lassimouillas, left, and Patrick Picque, right, were among four people freed in Burkina Faso. AFP - Getty Images Two French commandos were killed during the operation to free two countrymen who were kidnapped last week in neighboring Benin. The two missing French tourists and a South Korean were also rescued. The statement named the French citizens as Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, who vanished on May 1. It was unclear when or where the U.S. or South Korean national went missing. U.S. officials were not immediately available for comment. In a tweet, French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly identified the two slain serviceman as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello, who were both marine commandos. The French navy said in a Facebook post that de Pierrepont had served in the Mediterranean, the Mideast and the Sahel region of Africa. Bertoncello's career had taken him to the Seychelles, the Mideast and the Sahel. French commandos Cedric de Pierrepont, left, and Alain Bertoncello were killed in Burkina Faso. AFP - Getty Images The statement said that French President Emmanuel Macron "bows with emotion and gravity before the sacrifice of these two servicemen, who gave their lives to save those of our citizens." Sandrine Gelot, a mayor in the greater Paris region, said in a Facebook post last week that Lassimouillas was a piano teacher and orchestra conductor. Picque was described by Le Figaro newspaper as a jewelry designer and independent retailer. The French pair vanished during a safari in northern Benin near the border with Burkina Faso, according to Le Monde. The body of their guide was found in the park on Saturday, the newspaper reported. The State Department advises Americans to "reconsider travel" to Burkina Faso due to the risk of "terrorism and kidnapping." Its guidance warns that "terrorist groups continue plotting attacks and kidnappings in Burkina Faso and may conduct attacks anywhere with no warning." The State Department says people visiting Benin should "exercise normal precautions" but also highlights the threat of terrorism in the country's northern border region with Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso has witnessed encroaching insurgency by domestic militant groups in the country’s north as well as from the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara group in recent years, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. The State Department has urged Americans to "reconsider travel" to Burkina Faso due to the risk of terrorism and kidnapping. Google The project — which analyzes and maps global conflicts — last year recorded nearly 200 suspected militant attacks in the landlocked country. Conflict in neighboring Mali between pastoral farmers and nomadic herders has also spread into Burkina Faso leading to the displacement of 70,000 people since the beginning of 2019, according to ACAPS, a Norwegian humanitarian analysis organization. This conflict is being exploited by Islamist armed groups that operate across borders and attacks against civilians have become more frequent, according to the charity.<doc-sep>See the recovery efforts in Gaza as ceasefire appears to hold 'Is everything I'm trying to do pointless? ': Syrians helpless in face of 'sham' election Brother of journalist detained in Myanmar says family is hopeful Report: US companies may have benefited from forced labor of Uyghurs Residents stand near stalls along a road amidst debris while strong winds batter Balasore district in Odisha state on May 26, 2021 as Cyclone Yaas barrels towards India's eastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. (Photo by Dibyangshu SARKAR / AFP) (Photo by DIBYANGSHU SARKAR/AFP via Getty Images) France's President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Rwanda's President Paul Kagame speak as they walk in the grounds of The Presidential Palace in Kigali on May 27, 2021, after their press conference and prior to their official luncheon. - French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Rwanda on May 27, 2021, for a highly symbolic visit aimed at moving on from three decades of diplomatic tensions over France's role in the 1994 genocide in the country. Macron is the first French leader since 2010 to visit the East African nation, which has long accused France of complicity in the killing of some 800,000 mostly Tutsi Rwandans. (Photo by Ludovic MARIN / AFP) (Photo by LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP via Getty Images) Relative of detained Iranian-Americans fears they will not survive This handout photo released by the Marine Nationale on May 10, 2019 shows French soldiers Cedric de Pierrepont, left, and Alain Bertoncello posing at un undisclosed location after French forces have freed two French hostages as well as an American and a South Korean in northern Burkina Faso in a military raid that cost the lives of the two soldiers, the French presidency said on May 10. - The operation was ordered to free the French hostages, identified as Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, who disappeared while on holiday in the remote Pendjari National Park in Benin on May 1. (Photo by HO / MARINE NATIONALE / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / MARINE NATIONAE " - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - BEST QUALITY AVAILABLEHO/AFP/Getty Images (CNN) — French forces freed four hostages, including an American and South Korean, during a night-time rescue in Burkina Faso in which two soldiers were killed, according to a statement from France’s Elysee Palace on Friday. The US military supported the French-led operation between Thursday and Friday in the northern Sahel region, according to two US officials. The Elysee statement added that two of the hostages were French citizens, named as Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas. The identity of the kidnappers is still unknown, and the American and South Korean hostages, who are female, remain unnamed. Picque and Lassimouillas were kidnapped on May 1 while in the neighboring West African country of Benin, according to the Elysee. Their safari guide was found dead in Pendjari National Park and their vehicle was burned, Reuters reported. Handout/AFP French soldiers Cedric de Pierrepont, left, and Alain Bertoncello were killed in the operation. French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian “saluted the sacrifice” of the soldiers killed in combat and expressed his “condolences to their families and loved ones,” in a separate statement sent to CNN. The Elysee named the soldiers as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. One of the US officials said its support was in the form of overhead intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The official added that US troops did not directly participate in the actual combat portion of the operation. French Minister for the Armed Forces Florence Parly thanked American allies for their “precious support” in the rescue. In a statement released on Friday, she thanked “the Beninese and Burkinabe for their cooperation,” adding, “I salute the precious support of our American allies in conducting this operation.” Parly also paid tribute to the two French officers and described the hostage takers as “terrorists.” On Saturday, French President Emmanuel Macron will welcome the freed French and South Korean hostages at a ceremony at the Villacoublay French Air Force Base just south of Paris, an Elysee source told CNN. He will also pay special tribute to soldiers next week during a ceremony at the historic Les Invalides, a complex of military museums and monuments in Paris, that was originally a retirement home for war veterans. Beset by violence The northwest African country of Burkina Faso has been beset by extremist violence in recent months as Islamist terror groups expand their reach. The number of violent incidents in the country linked to the local affiliates of al Qaeda and ISIS rose from 24 in 2017 to 136 in 2018, according to a report by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Amid this increased violence, approximately 2,000 troops from more than 30 African and Western countries traveled to Burkina Faso to participate in a major military exercise in early 2019, which aimed at boosting regional cooperation, security and interoperability. In April, the US State Department updated its travel advisories for 35 countries, including Burkina Faso, with a new indicator to highlight the risk of kidnapping and hostage taking. CNN’s Ryan Browne and Arnaud Siad contributed to this report.<doc-sep>Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made note of Burkina Faso when he resurfaced in a video earlier this month after a five-year absence. In the video, he congratulated the groups operating in Burkina Faso for pledging allegiance to the Islamic State, describing that they would take “revenge for their brothers in Iraq and Syria.”<doc-sep>
French troops free hostages in Burkina Faso Published 10 May 2019 image copyright AFP image caption Frenchmen Laurent Lassimouillas (L) and Patrick Picque are among four captives freed Four foreign hostages have been freed by French forces in the West African country of Burkina Faso, France says. Commanders launched the operation to rescue two French tourists snatched in neighbouring Benin earlier this month, before they could be handed over to militants in Mali. During the raid special forces found the kidnappers were also holding a US woman and a South Korean woman. Two French soldiers and four kidnappers were killed. Two kidnappers escaped. What do we know about the raid? It took place in the north of Burkina Faso as the kidnappers stopped on their journey towards Mali, the head of the French military said. Commanders decided to act because the kidnappers were close to the Malian border and were believed to be planning to hand the hostages over to the Mali-based militant group Katiba Macina. "Once the hostages were in their hands it would have been impossible to rescue them," General François Lecointre told reporters. He said that a first operation, conducted on Tuesday with US support, had allowed the French to track the kidnappers. During the raid itself, special forces covered 200m (219yds) of open ground and got to within 10m of the shelter where the hostages were being held before being spotted by a guard. The two French soldiers who died were killed at close quarters as they entered one of the kidnappers' four shelters, the general said. Troops did not expect to find the US and South Korean hostages because there had been no information that the kidnappers were holding anyone else, French Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly said. Ms Parly said the kidnappers' identity was not yet known but there were two main militant groups operating near where the French tourists were taken, one linked to al-Qaeda and the other to the Islamic State group. The two soldiers killed during the rescue were named as Cédric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello. image copyright AFP image caption Cedric de Pierrepont and Alain Bertoncello were killed in the raid Ms Parly thanked the militaries of Benin and Burkina Faso for their help in the operation. Who are the hostages? Frenchmen Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas, both music teachers, disappeared in the remote Pendjari National Park in northern Benin where they had been on safari. The disfigured body of their guide was found shortly after they disappeared on 1 May, along with their abandoned vehicle. The park is on the border with Burkina Faso where Islamist militants have been increasingly active in recent months. The other two liberated hostages had apparently already been in the kidnappers' hands for 28 days, Gen Lecointre said. South Korean media quoted a government official as saying the authorities had had no report of a missing citizen and they were trying to establish the rescued woman's citizenship. Meanwhile the US has expressed its gratitude to France for the American woman's release, AFP quoted an official as saying. France said it was likely that she would be "repatriated independently" from the other three. President Emmanuel Macron is to receive the two French hostages and the South Korean at Villacoublay outside Paris on Saturday, French news outlet BFMTV reports. What reaction has there been? A statement from the French said Mr Macron "bows with emotion and solemnity before the sacrifice of our two soldiers who gave their lives to save those of our citizens". Ms Parly said "terrorists who attack France and French citizens should know that we will spare no effort to track them down and fight them". France has 4,500 troops based in the Sahel region on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert as part of its Operation Barkhane - an ongoing coalition effort in Africa's Sahel region to fight jihadist insurgents. 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.