Salarian hostages safe on Sur’Kesh, details of release unclear
March 9th, 2011
The story of eight missing salarians taken hostage in the Afghan DMZ came to an abrupt and unexpected end today on the salarian homeworld Sur’Kesh. At a press conference held this morning at the headquarters of the salarian extranet channel Great Frontier, the missing salarians, taken hostage two weeks ago while filming a documentary on the troubled Earth region, announced that they were home, safe and unharmed. The leader of the crew, producer Ganto Thunba, read a statement saying “we thank the management here at Great Frontier, our viewers, and well-wishers around the galaxy for their support during this ordeal. And we especially thank the members of the United Nations Peace Enforcement Mission in the Afghan DMZ for their tireless efforts to find us and bring us home to our world and our families.” Neither Thunba nor the other members of the film crew took questions, and Great Frontier’s spokesman refused to comment when asked for details of how the crew managed to escape from their captors. The salarians had been held hostage by the Afghan extremist group Grand Emirate of Afghanistan, but were apparently freed in an attack on a GEA base by unknown forces, resulting in the deaths of over 200 GEA insurgents and their leader, Abdul Abu Rahman. UN Peace Enforcement Mission spokesman Col. Jan de Groot refused to comment on details of any rescue operation.
[via BBC Galactic Service]
Tags: Afghan DMZ, Afghanistan, earth