French commandos have rescued four foreign hostages including two French citizens from a militant group in Burkina Faso, France's military says, but two of the elite soldiers were killed in the night-time operation. French special forces carried out the raid under cover of dark over the night of Thursday-Friday, supported by US intelligence and troops from France's Barkhane operation deployed in the Sahel region to counter Islamist militants. All four hostages were safe, President Emmanuel Macron's office said on Friday, adding that a US woman and a South Korean woman were also freed in the covert operation. "The precise and determined actions of French soldiers allowed us to take out the kidnappers while protecting the lives of the hostages," France's army chief Francois Lecointre told a news conference, describing the militant group as "terrorists". Four kidnappers were killed and two escaped, he said. "Those who attack France and the French know that we will spare no effort to track them and take them out. We will never abandon our citizens," Armed Forces Minister Florence Parly told reporters. The French forces had not been aware of the presence of the US and South Korean hostages ahead of the operation and they had been held for 28 days, Lecointre said. "We were not aware of their presence ... the American will be repatriated separately," Parly said. "The contacts (with those countries) show that these countries were not necessarily aware of their presence." France, the former colonial power in the region, intervened in Mali in 2013 against Islamist militants then occupying Mali's north and has since kept about 4500 troops in the Sahel. The region has seen a spike in violence by militants linked to al-Qaeda and Islamic State in past years, highlighting the difficulty international partners face in restoring stability. France's defence ministry identified the fallen soldiers as two elite naval commandos. Burkina Faso's President Roch Kabore hailed the hostages' release and offered condolences to the soldiers' families. "The joint military intervention that allowed us to achieve these results shows our common engagement in fighting against the forces of evil," Kabore said in a Facebook post. The two French tourists were kidnapped on May 1 in Benin's Pendjari National Park, which lies on Benin's northern frontier with Burkina Faso. Their safari guide was found dead, his body riddled with bullets, and their vehicle burned.<doc-sep>Ahmed Ouoba, AFP | The three former hostages arrive in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. Four foreign hostages, including two French citizens, arrived in the capital of Burkina Faso Saturday after being rescued by French special forces in a daring night-time raid. Two of the elite soldiers were killed in the operation. Advertising Read more Looking tired, the former hostages arrived in the presidential palace in Ouagadougou in the morning and met with Burkina Faso President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré. Later on Saturday, they will travel to Paris, to be greeted by President Emmanuel Macron and senior government and military officials. An American former hostage who was released at the same time as the other three was not present at the reception in Ouagadougou. One of the French former hostages, Laurent Lassimouillas, paid tribute to the two French soldiers killed in the rescue operation: “Our thoughts go out to the soldiers’ families, and to the soldiers who lost their lives to free us from this hell; we wanted to offer our condolences right away,” he said. There will be a ceremony of national tribute in Paris on Monday for the two soldiers who were killed in this “highly complex operation”, as Defence Minister Florence Parly described it. France pays tribute to soldiers killed in Sahel hostage rescue Kidnapped tourists were in Benin 'red zone' The two French tourists rescued from their kidnappers in Burkina Faso this week were seized in an area of Benin that France has long advised travellers to avoid, Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said 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. 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. Rescued French hostage Laurent Lassimouillas pays tribute to slain soldiers It warns of "the presence of armed terrorist groups and the risk of kidnapping". The French tourists, Patrick Picque, 51, and Lassimouillas, 46, disappeared during a tour of Pendjari on May 1. 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. A look at political instability in the Sahel region French President Emmanuel Macron gave the order for the nighttime raid Thursday on the militants' camp, in which Picque and Lassimouillas were freed, along with an American woman and a South Korean woman. The French commandos were unaware of the presence of the two other hostages, officials said. 'Avoid the sacrifices' 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 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 AFP) Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morning Subscribe<doc-sep>
Three hostages freed by French commandos from militants in Burkina Faso have arrived in Paris, 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 overnight (Saturday local time). It comes less than 48 hours after French special forces stormed their captors’ hide-out in a daring night-time raid. The two Frenchmen, identified as Patrick Picque and Laurent Lassimouillas were kidnapped while on safari in Benin more than a week earlier. An American woman and a South Korean woman were being held with them and were liberated in the high-risk mission authorised 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 said as he met Burkinabe President Roch Kabore in Ouagadougou. The French government identified the two soldiers killed as Cedric 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. French officials said on Friday it was not yet clear who had kidnapped the tourists in Benin but that their captors planned to hand them over to an al- Qaeda affiliate in neighbouring 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 4500 troops in the Sahel since then. Defence Minister Florence Parly said the message to terrorists was 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,” he said. Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said France was doing all it could to secure the release of another French hostage, Sophie Petronin, who was kidnapped by gunmen in December 2016 in the northern Malian city of Gao.