American aid worker Jeff Woodke released SIX YEARS after being held hostage by terrorists in Niger

An American aid worker who was kidnapped in Niger more than six years ago and held hostage by an Al-Qaeda terrorist group has finally been released.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that Jeff Woodke was released Monday.

Veteran aid worker Woodke was kidnapped in Abalak in October 2016, the first US citizen to be kidnapped in the Sahel region.

JNIM, the umbrella organization that includes al Qaeda, last claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing at the Mali headquarters of the G5 Sahel, an international counter-terrorism task force in 2018, killing two soldiers and a civilian.

In a statement, Sullivan said: I am pleased and relieved to see the release of American hostage Jeff Woodke after more than six years in captivity. The United States thanks Niger for helping him bring him home to all who miss and love him.

President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that Jeff Woodke was released Monday.

“I am grateful to so many in our government who have worked tirelessly to secure his freedom.

We are working closely with partners in the region and beyond to ensure safe transport and immediate access to the best medical and psychiatric support we can offer.

“Where exactly Jeff chooses to go will be a bit up to him.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Niger earlier this month and a senior official confirmed that Woodke’s release was discussed during the trip.

The official confirmed that the United States did not pay any ransom to the terrorists and thanked the Nigerien government for being involved in efforts to secure their release.

They said: ‘Here there was no direct negotiation between the US government and terrorist organizations, it is worth clarifying.

‘Certainly here we do not pay a ransom for a concession to a terrorist organization.

“Emerging as our best line of effort among many we’ve tried over the years was working to see what a very good, capable, and hopefully willing partner in Niger could offer in its own commitment.”

In a statement issued Monday through a family spokesperson, Els Woodke said she had not yet had a chance to speak to her husband, but was told he was in good condition.

The official confirmed that the United States did not pay any ransom to the terrorists and thanked the Nigerien government for being involved in efforts to secure their release.

Woodke was kidnapped from his home by the JNIM terrorist network that operates in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso.

He was released outside Niger in the Mali-Burkina Faso area according to a senior Biden administration official.

He dedicated 25 years of his life to a ministry he founded in Niger, according to the Redwood Coast School of Missions, after moving from California.

During a 2021 press conference in Washington, his wife, Els Woodke, said her husband’s captors had demanded a multi-million dollar ransom for his release.

She said at the time that she believed her husband was in the custody of an al Qaeda affiliate in West Africa known as JNIM and pleaded with the group’s leader to release him.

Woodke dedicated 25 years of his life to a ministry he founded in Niger before his kidnapping in 2016.

During a 2021 press conference in Washington, his wife, Els Woodke, said her husband’s captors had demanded a multi-million dollar ransom for his release.

In a statement issued Monday through a family spokesperson, Els Woodke said she had not yet had a chance to speak to her husband, but was told he was in good condition.

They added: “She praises God for answering the prayers of Christians everywhere who have prayed for this outcome.”

Woodke was kidnapped by gunmen in the middle of the night, and his guardian and a National Guardsman were shot dead during the incident.

His kidnapping marked the first time a US citizen had been kidnapped in the vast Sahel region, where al-Qaeda and criminal gangs have long kidnapped French and other European citizens and demanded millions of dollars for their release.

The kidnapping took place in the town of Abalak, northeast of the capital Niamey, in the Tahoua region of Niger.

Despite a 2013 peace agreement and international military intervention, large swaths of Mali are still not controlled by domestic or foreign troops and continue to be targeted by jihadists.