US special forces have rescued a female prisoner of war from a Nassiriya hospital.
A family member confirmed the POW was Private First Class Jessica Lynch (19) part of a maintenance company that ran by mistake last week into an Iraqi unit. Ms Lynch's decendents are from Co Derry.
|
|
Private First Class Jessica Lynch
|
"She's alive and well," the family member said from the family home in Palestine, West Virginia, declining to discuss reports she had suffered gunshot wounds during the rescue.
"Coalition forces have conducted a successful rescue mission of a US Army prisoner of war held captive in Iraq," Brigadier General Vincent Brooks told reporters in a prepared statement.
Lynch was one of 15 soldiers listed missing, captured or killed when a 507th Ordnance Maintenance Company convoy made a wrong turn and came under attack from Iraqi tanks and fighters.
Five of the captives, but not Lynch, were shown on Iraqi television as well as the bloodied bodies of up to eight men, prompting US President George W. Bush to warn Iraqis they would be punished as "war criminals" if they mistreated US prisoners.
Military officials would not discuss the fate of the other captives, but CNN reported that Lynch's rescue team also brought out the bodies of up to 11 people believed to be US soldiers.