Kevin Rideout, an American missionary and pilot with SIM International, has been released after being kidnapped outside his home in Niamey, Niger, last October by three armed men.
SIM International says he is in good health and in the care of US officials, with unnamed sources telling the New York Times he is now in FBI custody. Who held him, why, and how his release was arranged remain undisclosed, though the abduction occurred in a region known for al-Qaeda-linked militant activity.
Rideout had worked in Niger for 19 years before his capture; his family has asked for privacy as they reunite.
The full dispatch is available from the source below.