Somalia Hostage Jessica Buchanan Rescued By Navy SEALs Set To Be Reunited With Family

Somalia Hostage To Be Reunited With Family

Rescued in a dramatic nighttime raid by the same U.S. Navy SEALs team that killed Osama bin Laden, American Jessica Buchanan has arrived at the U.S. Naval Air Station Sigonella in Sicily and is set to be reunited with her family as soon as today, CNN reports.

The 32-year-old spent three months in captivity after being kidnapped in Somalia.

On Tuesday night, U.S. SEAL Team 6 reportedly parachuted in to the area and carried on by foot, taking Buchanan's guards by surprise. Poul Hagen Thisted, a Danish aid worker, was also rescued during the mission.

On Wednesday, Buchanan spent her first night of freedom at a military base in Djibouti, ABC reports.

Jessica Buchanan's father, John, told CNN how he received a phone call from Barack Obama notifying him of his daughter's rescue.

"John, this is Barack Obama. I'm calling because I have great news for you. Your daughter has been rescued by our military," Jessica Buchanan's father said of his conversation with the president. Her father later also received a call from his daughter assuring him that she was okay.

"Daddy, I love you, and I'll be fine. I'm OK," she said, according to the Daily Mail.

According to the Associated Press, Buchanan and Thisted were working for the Danish Demining Group, which clears mines from conflict zones, when they were seized last October.

9 Somalis reportedly were killed in the raid.

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Jessica Buchanan

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