“If they try again, we will all die together,” warned Hassan Abdi, a Somali pirate connected to the gang holding the American, who was kidnapped Saturday in northern Somalia.

“It’s difficult to hold U.S. hostages because it’s a game of chance: Die or get huge money. But we shall stick with our plans and will never release him until we get a ransom,” Abdi said.

U.S. Navy SEALs parachuted into Somalia early Wednesday and hiked to where captors held 32-year-old American Jessica Buchanan and Poul Hagen Thisted, a 60-year-old Dane. A shootout ensued and nine captors were killed. Buchanan, Thisted and the U.S. troops were all unharmed. The two aid workers were kidnapped by gunmen in October while working on demining projects for the Danish Refugee Council.

Buchanan and Thisted were flown to the U.S. Naval Air Base at Sigonella on the Italian island of Sicily to undergo medical screenings and other evaluations before heading home, a U.S. defense official said. Buchanan’s family met her at the base, which is the hub of U.S. Navy air operations in the Mediterranean.

The U.S. government said the raid was prompted by Buchanan’s deteriorating health. An ailing Frenchwoman kidnapped by Somali gunmen died in captivity last year after not having access to her medication.

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s rescue, the gang holding the American kidnapped in the northern town of Galkayo have moved him three times, Abdi said.

“Holding hostages in one place is unlikely now because we are the next target,” he told The Associated Press by telephone.

He also expressed concern that the U.S. has pirate informants.

“It wasn’t just a hit-and-run operation, but long planned with the help of insiders among us,” Abdi said, noting that the Americans struck at a time when the pirates were least on their guard.

U.S. State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland said U.S. officials have been in contact with the family of the latest American kidnapping victim.

Source: AP

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