Army recovers foreign family kidnapped in Afghanistan

RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Army on Thursday rescued five abducted foreign nationals in an intelligence-based operation (IBO), the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said in a statement.

According to Pakistan Army’s media wing, the hostages included a Canadian, his American wife, and their three children.  They were kidnapped by terrorists from Afghanistan in 2012 and kept as hostages there.

The operation was conducted by the Pakistani troops after receiving intelligence from the US authorities, who had been tracking them and shared their shifting across to Pakistan on October 11 through the Kurram Agency border.

The recovered hostages are being repatriated to their country of origin.

The captives are not identified but are likely to be be Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman, kidnapped in Afghanistan in 2012 while on a backpacking trip.

The last known footage of the couple surfaced in December last year when they appeared in video urging their governments to secure their release. They were pictured holding their two young sons, who had been born while they were in captivity.