Aug 13 (Reuters) – Kevin Rideout, an American missionary pilot who was kidnapped in Niger’s capital Niamey in October last year, has been released and is in U.S. hands, the New York Times reported late on Thursday, citing two U.S. officials.
Rideout is on his way to the United States, the Times said, adding that he was in good health based on proof-of-life images that were provided to American officials in the past 48 hours.
The U.S. State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment on the report outside regular business hours.
Reuters had reported in October that the missionary, who is a pilot for the evangelical missionary agency Serving in Mission, was seized by three unidentified men as he headed to the airport, citing an unnamed diplomat, but did not identify Rideout by name at the time.
The kidnappers then headed toward the western Tillaberi region of Niger, where Islamist militants linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda are active.
Niger, like its neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, has been battling jihadist insurgencies for over a decade.
The U.S. issued a travel warning to Niger days after the kidnapping, warning its citizens against traveling to Niger, citing crime, unrest, terrorism, health and kidnapping.
Reuters had later reported in March that the U.S. was pushing to resume intelligence gathering in neighboring Mali, partly driven by a desire to find the kidnapped missionary, who at the time was believed to be held in Mali by the local al Qaeda affiliate, Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM).
According to the New York Times, details of how and where Rideout was released remained unclear. It was also unclear which group was holding Rideout at the end of his captivity, as he may have been moved recently, the Times added.
(Reporting by Preetika Parashuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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