American Missionary Freed in Niger After 10 Months
American Missionary Freed in Niger After 10 Months
The News
Kevin Rideout, the American missionary pilot kidnapped in Niger last fall, has been released and is on his way back to the United States, two U.S. officials told The New York Times.
Rideout, 50, was seized on October 21 by three unidentified men outside his home in Niamey, Niger's capital, blocks from the presidential palace, according to Christianity Today, cited by the Daily Mail.
He is in FBI custody and appeared to be in good health based on proof-of-life images given to U.S. officials in the past 48 hours, one official said.
Details of how and where he was released were unclear late Thursday. The officials, who spoke anonymously to discuss operational matters, said it is also unclear which terrorist or criminal group was holding him at the end, because he may have been moved recently.
Timeline
Rideout is kidnapped outside his home in Niamey by three armed men, who are then seen heading toward the Tillaberi region, where militants linked to ISIS and al-Qaeda are known to operate, per Christianity Today.
The U.S. Embassy in Niamey issues a security alert warning Americans of an increased kidnapping risk.
The United States carries out missile strikes in northwestern Nigeria that President Donald Trump said targeted Islamic State fighters. The Pentagon said at the time the operation was coordinated with the Nigerian military.
The State Department's top Africa official, Nick Checker, makes a series of trips to Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger to share intelligence and get American aircraft searching for Rideout, according to the Africa Report.
U.S. and Nigerian forces kill Abu Bilal al-Minuki, one of the Islamic State's highest-ranking leaders, in an operation in Nigeria. U.S. officials said al-Minuki oversaw the group's global operations, media, recruitment and finances and was directly involved in plots like the Rideout kidnapping.
Two U.S. officials say Rideout is in American custody and headed home, roughly 10 months after his abduction.
Reactions
The White House and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment late Thursday, and the Daily Mail said it had also asked the White House and State Department for comment.
Officials said Rideout's release had been a priority for the Trump White House and the military's Africa Command since the day he was taken.
Earlier in the case, a State Department spokesman told CBS News: "We are seeing efforts from across the government to support the recovery and safe return of this US citizen."
What's Next
Rideout is en route to the United States in U.S. custody. Officials have not said publicly whether a ransom, a prisoner exchange or a rescue operation ended his captivity, and no agency had confirmed the release on the record as of late Thursday.
Expect the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department to be pressed on those questions — and on who held him — once he lands.
More
Rideout had worked in Niger as a Christian missionary for 19 years and flew for Serving in Mission, a Charlotte, North Carolina-based group that describes itself as a "global mission family serving in 70 countries" focused on communities with few Christians.
Experts quoted by the Daily Mail suggested he was likely taken by the Islamic State Sahel Province or criminal groups tied to it. That network and its rivals have gained strength across Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso since junta leaders expelled Western military assistance and the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali closed in 2023.
Niger's General Abdourahamane Tiani ousted President Mohamed Bazoum in a 2023 coup and ordered foreign troops, including the U.S. military, out of the country. Since then, Nigeria has allowed American surveillance flights from its bases, in part to hunt for Rideout.
Thousands of Christians and Muslims have been killed in Nigeria in land disputes, sectarian violence and terrorism — which Christian activists and Republican lawmakers call the persecution of Christians. Analysts say there is no clear evidence Christians are attacked more often than other religious groups there.
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