Acting on a tip from a detainee, coalition forces rescued two hostages, including an American held hostage since November, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
Roy Hallums and an Iraqi man were freed "from captivity in an isolated farm house located 15 miles south of Baghdad," the military said.
The military said Hallums released this statement after his release: "I want to thank all of those who were involved in my rescue to those who continuously tracked my captors and location, and to those who physically brought me freedom today.
"To all of you, I will be forever grateful. Both of us are in good health and look forward to returning to our respective families. Thank you to all who kept me and my family in their thoughts and prayers."
The military said the raid was planned quickly after an Iraqi detainee divulged the pair's location, reports CNN.
According to CBC News, Hallums called his daughter early Wednesday from Iraq with news of his rescue.
"He apologized to me for putting me through any hardship," his eldest daughter, Carrie Anne Cooper, 29, said by telephone from her home in Westminster, Calif. "He got to say he was sorry, and I got to say I loved him. We got to say things we never thought we would be able to say."
Hallums, formerly of Newport Beach, Calif., was kidnapped at gunpoint from his office in the Mansour district of Baghdad on Nov. 1, 2004. At the time, he was working for the Saudi Arabian Trading and Construction Co., supplying food to the Iraqi army.
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