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Abductors have released Kevin Rideout, an American missionary pilot kidnapped in Niger’s capital of Niamey last October.
Citing two U.S. officials, the New York Times reported late Thursday that Rideout is in good health and currently travelling back to the United States.
Recent proof-of-life images provided to American authorities confirmed his physical condition.
Three unidentified men seized Rideout, a pilot for the evangelical agency Serving in Mission, as he travelled to the Niamey airport.
The captors subsequently fled toward Niger’s western Tillaberi region, an area where Islamist militants linked to Islamic State and al Qaeda operate.
For over a decade, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso have fought brutal terrorist insurgencies, prompting the U.S. State Department to issue strict travel warnings regarding kidnapping, crime, and terrorism across the region.
American intelligence efforts actively tracked Rideout’s captivity across borders, believing at one point that the local al Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin held him in neighbouring Mali.
While details surrounding his physical release remain unclear, officials note that captors may have transferred Rideout between different groups before his freedom.
Neither the White House nor the U.S. State Department immediately responded to requests for official comment.
