SEAL Team Six rescued an American citizen who was abducted in Niger last week during a high-risk military raid in nearby Nigeria on Friday night.
ABC News reports that Philip Walton, 27, was captured by abductors in Niger on Oct. 26, according to counterterrorism officials. Walton, his wife and a young daughter live in a small village close to the Nigerien border. Walton was reportedly kidnapped from his backyard on Monday after his assailants demanded he hand over money.
According to U.S. and Nigerian officials, the captors were believed to have belonged to an armed group from Nigeria. While the group is not believed to be connected to terrorism, many hostages are ultimately sold to terrorist groups.
During the rescue mission carried out by SEAL Team Six, all but one of Walton's seven captors were killed.
"They were all dead before they knew what happened," a counterterrorism source told ABC News.
President Trump celebrated the safe return of the American citizen and the courageousness of the soldier who brought him home.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 31, 2020
Many have heard about the elite SEAL Team Six following the successful raid in 2011 to take out terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. It was later revealed that then-Vice President Joe Biden opposed the raid, having told Obama "don't go." Biden similarly opposed the successful airstrike that killed Iranian terrorist Qassem Soleimani in 2019.
The Washington Post revealed in 2012 that unclassified documents recovered from bin Laden's compound outlined a plan the terrorist had considered to assassinate then-President Obama. After Obama's assassination, bin Laden believed, a "totally unprepared" Joe Biden would assume the presidency and plunge America "into a crisis."
Voters now have the chance on Tuesday to carry out bin Laden's plan by electing Joe Biden president.
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