Jessica Buchanan and Paul Tisted (images courtesy of Danish Refugee Council)Two foreign aid workers kidnapped in Somalia three months ago have been freed in a rare US military raid there, officials say.
The overnight operation was carried out by military helicopters and involved US Navy Seals, unidentified Western officials said.
A shoot-out followed but a Danish humanitarian group says the two hostages were unharmed.
The two - a US woman and a Danish man - were seized on 25 October.
They had been working for the Danish Demining Group when they were abducted by gunmen near the north-central town of Galkayo.
The group helps dispose of unexploded bombs and teaches communities about the dangers of land mines.
Other remaining hostages in Somalia include a UK tourist and two Spanish medics who were abducted in neighbouring Kenya.
'Safe location'The rescue party is said to have landed close to a compound - thought to be just north of the town of Adado - where hostages were being held.
A local security official, Mohamed Nur, told AFP news agency that several of the pirates had been killed.
The freed hostages were believed to have been flown to nearby Djibouti by the rescuers, he said.
They were named as American Jessica Buchanan, 32, and Poul Thisted, 60, of Denmark.
The Danish Refugee Council, which had been involved in efforts to free them via mediation, said they were unharmed and "at a safe location".
The BBC's Steve Kingstone in Washington said the first hint of the successful operation appeared to come from US President Barack Obama himself - as he prepared to give the State of the Union address, he turned to his Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and said "Good job tonight."
The US maintains a military presence in the tiny Horn of Africa state of Djibouti.
The US says Camp Lemonnier "serves as a key location from which US and coalition forces operate in the Horn of Africa".
About 2,500 personnel - including civilians and defence contractors - are based there as well as armour, fighters and drones.
Correspondents say that following the killing in 1993 of 19 US soldiers and the wounding of 70 others in the Somali capital Mogadishu, there is no appetite for full-scale US ground operations in Somalia.
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