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Army Frees European Hostages In Bangladesh
CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh, March 17 (News Agencies) - Three European hostages held for a month by tribal kidnappers in Bangladesh were freed early Saturday after a commando raid, security officials said.
The hostages all escaped unharmed despite an extensive gun battle between the kidnappers and troops, the military said, adding papers belonging to the tribal United People's Democratic Front (UPDF) were found at the hideout.
"The operation started at 4:00 am [2300 GMT Friday] and the commandos were able to free the hostages after an hour of heavy exchange of fire," an army officer said.
The officer, who declined to be named, said the army had searched the Kalapahar hill area, the site of the raid. The area had been cordoned off since the trio was kidnapped in the Rangamati hill district on February 16th.
Chittagong military chief Major General Abdul Matin, along with other senior army officers, had been present in Rangamati since Friday.
The official BSS news agency confirmed the commando raid on the kidnappers hideout, led by Lieutenant Colonel Ashraf Abdullah Yusuf.
Yusuf said: "We first fired some blanks to frighten the kidnappers and they retaliated with counter fires ... then fled deep into the forest."
Local officials and Home Minister Mohammad Nasim said they were relieved at the "happy ending" to the hostage crisis.
"We are very happy. We are tired, but fine," Dane Torben Mikkelsen was quoted as telling local reporters in Rangamati by BSS.
The three, looking tired and worn out, were quickly whisked away by helicopter to the Combined Military Hospital in Dhaka for further health check-ups.
A spokesman for Britain's Foreign Office in London said: "Tim, Torben and Nils are in good health and are looking forward to be reunited with their families and friends."
It denied paying any ransom to free Selby and thanked Bangladesh for its part in bringing the month-long hostage drama to a peaceful end.
"We are very grateful to the Bangladeshi authorities for their cooperation in bringing this to a successful solution," it said.
Divina Torben, Mikkelsen's wife, who reached Rangamati Friday, also praised the end of her husband's ordeal.
"I express my gratitude to the residents of Rangamati and the press for their cooperation getting my husband and his two colleagues released," she said.
Security officials said there were "no casualties despite exchange of heavy firing," according to BSS.
The commandos surrounded the kidnappers and warned them by megaphone to surrender and also told the captives not to worry, the security sources said, adding that three weapons, including two homemade guns, were left behind by the abductors.
A strong army team had fanned out in the area to arrest the kidnappers.
Mikkelsen, 48, and Nils Hulgaard, 64, and Selby, 28, had been conducting a survey for a government road project in Rangamati when six gunmen seized them.
A fourth man, another Briton, was freed on the day of the kidnapping along with a Bangladeshi driver and sent to deliver the kidnappers' demand for a $1.6 million ransom.
Rangamati, which has a history of insurgency, is part of the rugged Chittagong Hill Tracts region bordering India and Myanmar.
The raid came hours after British and Danish envoys held talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed, sources said.
Earlier this week, Bangladeshi officials released details of a letter from the hostages in which they warned that their health was deteriorating badly in captivity and urged authorities to pay the ransom.
Negotiators seeking their release had established direct contact with the kidnappers on Monday, a day after the military doubled the size of a cordon around the area where they were being held.
The Bangladeshi military had repeatedly threatened to mount an assault on the kidnappers to free the hostages.
The kidnapping has been blamed on the UPDF, which opposed a 1997 peace treaty between Dhaka and tribal members that ended two decades of insurgency in the region. The group has denied being involved.
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