…Trump under fire for tweeting raid
Elite Commandos of the US military have staged a military raid of terrorists’ camp in Nigeria to free an American abducted in Niger Republic.
The American, Philip Walton, was abducted on 26 October by suspected bandits in a village in Niger, close to Nigeria. Nigeria has porous borders with Niger.
Officials told ABC News early Saturday that the counter-terrorism mission was undertaken by elite commandos as part of a major effort to free the 27-year-old U.S. citizen before his abductors could get far after taking him captive in Niger.
According to report, the operation involved the governments of the U.S., Niger and Nigeria working together to rescue Walton quickly.
It said the elite SEAL Team Six carried out the rescue mission and killed all but one of the captors, according to officials with direct knowledge about the operation.
“They were all dead before they knew what happened,” another counterterrorism source with knowledge told ABC News.
The Pentagon lauded the rescue mission in a statement.
“U.S. forces conducted a hostage rescue operation during the early hours of 31 October in Northern Nigeria to recover an American citizen held hostage by a group of armed men,” said Pentagon chief spokesperson Jonathan Hoffman.
“This American citizen is safe and is now in the care of the U.S. Department of State. No U.S military personnel were injured during the operation.
“We appreciate the support of our international partners in conducting this operation.”
U.S. and Nigerien officials had said that Walton was kidnapped from his backyard last Monday after six assailants, with AK 47s, asked him for money.
But he only offered $40 USD and was then taken away by force, according to sources in Niger.
Walton lives with his wife and young daughter on a farm near Massalata, a small village close to the border with Nigeria.
The kidnappers tied up the rest of Walton’s family so they couldn’t report the kidnapping to the authorities, meaning the police were unaware of the kidnapping that lasted about four hours.
Walton has now returned to Niger, according to an official who said the ransom had not been paid.
Nigeria’s defence minister also confirmed the exemption for the AFPs.
“I confirm that the American hostage was released last night,” Minister Issoufou Katambe said without giving details of the circumstances of the release or the fate of the hostage.
According to local authorities, the kidnappers had called the man’s father to ask for a ransom, although the family did not confirm it.
Walton has lived in Massalata with his wife and son for two years, according to his father, who has been in Niger for nearly 30 years.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been bashed on Twitter following his tweet on the reported rescue of an American citizen by U.S. special forces in Nigeria.
Shortly after news of the rescue broke, Trump took to his Twitter handle to celebrate, saluting “the courageous soldiers behind the daring nighttime rescue operation”.
“Last night, our Country’s brave warriors rescued an American hostage in Nigeria.
“Our Nation salutes the courageous soldiers behind the daring nighttime rescue operation and celebrates the safe return of yet another American citizen!”, the post reads.
Within minutes, the tweet attracted thousands of reactions with the president’s critics slamming him for allegedly failing to save over 230,000 American lives so far claimed by COVID-19.
“Brave indeed. They volunteered to fight for their country,” replied a follower by the name, Vote Trump Out.
“Shame you couldn’t have saved 200,000 plus lives while you were tweeting,” the follower with the handle @MattTavner, added.
Another critic, Limey McLimeface using the handle @mclimeface, suggested that Trump didn’t know about the operation until the media reported it.
“Took you until now to mention it, you probably only just heard of it, because you’re too busy on your farewell tour, you haven’t done any work in weeks,” McLimeface said.
An American psychologist, Jeffrey Guterman, using the verified account, @JefferyGuterman, called the president “a mass murderer” for spreading the virus with his non-socially-distant campaign rallies.
Guterman shared a Stanford University study, which concluded that 18 rallies addressed by Trump resulted in no fewer than 30,000 “incremental confirmed cases of COVID-19”.
According to the study, conducted by Douglas Bernheim, Nina Buchmann and Zach Freitas-Groff of the Department of Economics, the rallies “likely led to more than 700 deaths”.
“Congratulations, you made America Great Again!,” said Alex Haditaghi,a Canadian entrepreneur and philanthropist.
“U.S. reports world record of more than 100,000 COVID-19 cases in a single day. Coronavirus deaths in U.S. yesterday: 1,031
“Deaths over last seven days: 6,579. Deaths so far: 230,000. COVID-19 Infections in U.S. 9,300,000,” Haditaghi said.
To one Lewis Silberman, the operation was timed to aid the president’s reflection bid.
The president has always defended his administration’s response to the pandemic, arguing that nothing could be done better.
David Wohl, an American actor and supporter of the president, defended him in his reaction to the tweet, suggesting that the rescue operation was making Democrats angry.
“They hate to see Trump succeed and would rather have Americans remain hostages. Real Americans, however, are grateful to Trump and #SealTeam6”, he said.
One Lisa Whitehead replied him, saying it would be “really fantastic if he would quit killing Americans here in the USA!!”.
“Maybe the SEAL team can help him with that, maybe they could stand outside his rallies and make people mask up!!!”, Whitehead added. – Reuters.
