What we know about the rescue of Canadian Joshua Boyle, his wife and their three children in Pakistan
Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their three young children were rescued Thursday in Pakistan’s border region from the trunk of their captors’ car. Here’s what we know.
Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their children are on their way home after five years held hostage. (TWITTER)
The parents of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman hold a photo of their children in a June 3, 2014, file photo. (AP PHOTO/BILL GORMAN)
Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their children are on their way home after five years held hostage. (TWITTER)
The parents of Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman hold a photo of their children in a June 3, 2014, file photo. (AP PHOTO/BILL GORMAN)
Canadian Joshua Boyle, his American wife Caitlan Coleman and their three young children were in the trunk of their captors’ car in Pakistan near the Afghan border when Pakistani troops rescued them.
A gun battle ensued, though details of what exactly happened are not yet clear. In a morning phone call with his parents, who shared his account with the Star, Boyle said the fight left all five kidnappers dead and himself injured with shrapnel.
The last words Boyle said he heard from the kidnappers were, “kill the hostages.”
Boyle, 34, and Coleman, 31, were kidnapped by the Taliban-linked Haqqani network in October 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan’s Wardak province — a Taliban stronghold.
Their three children were born in captivity.
Caitlan Coleman And Joshua Boyle With Their Children. TWITTER PHOTO
Pakistan’s account of the rescue diverges from Boyle’s. The official spokesperson of Pakistan’s armed forces, Maj. Gen. Asif Ghafoor told the Wall Street Journal that Boyle’s captors fled the scene on foot.
Ghafoor said Pakistani troops tracked the captors’ vehicle as it went off-road in the Kurram Agency region, then shot out its tires. The troops then rescued the captive family from the abandoned vehicle, he said.
Ghafoor didn’t immediately respond to the Star’s request for comment.
Pakistan’s High Commissioner to Canada, Tariq Azim Khan, told the CBC there was a “clash” between the Taliban and the Pakistan troops, which included gunfire. He said he did not know how many were killed.
Official accounts from both countries indicate that U.S. intelligence and Pakistani forces together were instrumental in the family’s rescue.
A news release from Pakistan said the family was rescued by an “operation by Pakistani forces, based on actionable intelligence from U.S. authorities,” that the family and their captors had crossed from Afghanistan into Pakistan Wednesday.
Pakistan's Kurram Agency, where the Boyle family was rescued
The rescue represents rare collaboration between countries whose relationship has been historically tense over the issue of terrorism.
The U.S. has been highly critical of Pakistan for failing to crack down on the Haqqani network, which has a history of kidnapping and holding Westerners.
U.S. President Donald Trump was quick to take credit for the collaboration. In a Wednesday-night speech, he said that “a country that did not respect us … respects us now,” an apparent reference to the rescue.
CNN reported that the rescue by Pakistani armed forces came as a “surprise” to the U.S. The Americans had been discussing a U.S.-staged rescue attempt when Pakistani authorities informed them that they’d already taken custody of the family, the network said, citing an unnamed senior U.S. official.
Rescue operations are often dangerous for captives.
New America, a U.S. think tank, reported that 20 per cent of hostages were killed in rescue attempts between 2001 and 2016. Outcomes were worse overall for American hostages, the report said. Of all Americans taken captive in that period, 43 per cent died, remained in captivity or were unaccounted for, compared to 19 per cent for Westerners overall.
Plans are underway for the Boyle family’s return to North America. Sources told the Star that the U.S. had offered to transport them on a military flight, but Boyle asked to be brought home by Canadian officials instead.
OTTAWA: A Canadian court on Wednesday postponed a bail hearing for former Taliban hostage Joshua Boyle, who was arrested on Saturday and faces criminal charges including assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement.
The charges, filed on Monday, are for crimes prosecutors said occurred in Canada after Boyle and his family returned to the country last October. Boyle and his wife Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped in October 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan.
When they returned to Canada with three children born in captivity, Boyle said a fourth child had been murdered and his spouse raped after their capture by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network. The Taliban denied the accusations of rape and murder.
Boyle, 34, appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Wednesday via video link dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit. He confirmed his name, but did not enter a plea to the charges.
He is due to appear again in court on Jan. 8.
The court imposed a publication ban that prevents media from reporting on information that could identify any victims or witnesses. The ban also prohibits reporting on the details of the bail hearing.
The charges include eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement and one count of uttering death threats.
Boyle has retained the services of Lawrence Greenspon, one of Canada’s leading criminal defense lawyers.
“Mr. Boyle is presumed innocent of all charges. He has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with the police,” Greenspon said in an e-mailed statement.
“As Mr. Boyle has only just been charged, we are waiting to receive more information about these allegations so that we can respond to them appropriately in court,” Greenspon said. He declined to comment further.
A sign attached to the door of the Boyle apartment in Ottawa said family members would not be speaking to the media and requested privacy. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp posted a picture of the notice on its website.
U.S. officials said Boyle and his family spent almost all of their five years of confinement in neighboring Pakistan, which is where they were freed by Pakistani troops.
The family met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his Parliament Hill office last month. Photos released on Twitter showed Trudeau holding the youngest child in his lap.
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OTTAWA: A Canadian court on Wednesday postponed a bail hearing for former Taliban hostage Joshua Boyle, who was arrested on Saturday and faces criminal charges including assault, sexual assault and forcible confinement.
The charges, filed on Monday, are for crimes prosecutors said occurred in Canada after Boyle and his family returned to the country last October. Boyle and his wife Caitlan Coleman were kidnapped in October 2012 while backpacking in Afghanistan.
When they returned to Canada with three children born in captivity, Boyle said a fourth child had been murdered and his spouse raped after their capture by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network. The Taliban denied the accusations of rape and murder.
Boyle, 34, appeared in an Ottawa courtroom on Wednesday via video link dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit. He confirmed his name, but did not enter a plea to the charges.
He is due to appear again in court on Jan. 8.
The court imposed a publication ban that prevents media from reporting on information that could identify any victims or witnesses. The ban also prohibits reporting on the details of the bail hearing.
The charges include eight counts of assault, two counts of sexual assault, two counts of forcible confinement and one count of uttering death threats.
Boyle has retained the services of Lawrence Greenspon, one of Canada’s leading criminal defense lawyers.
“Mr. Boyle is presumed innocent of all charges. He has no criminal record and has never been in trouble with the police,” Greenspon said in an e-mailed statement.
“As Mr. Boyle has only just been charged, we are waiting to receive more information about these allegations so that we can respond to them appropriately in court,” Greenspon said. He declined to comment further.
A sign attached to the door of the Boyle apartment in Ottawa said family members would not be speaking to the media and requested privacy. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp posted a picture of the notice on its website.
U.S. officials said Boyle and his family spent almost all of their five years of confinement in neighboring Pakistan, which is where they were freed by Pakistani troops.
The family met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in his Parliament Hill office last month. Photos released on Twitter showed Trudeau holding the youngest child in his lap.
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