Two aid workers, an American woman and a Danish man were Yesterday rescued by US Navy SEALA who swooped into Somalia.

The rescue eventually occurred after a shootout with the Somali gunmen who had been holding them captive in sweltering desert hide-out for months.

Nine gunmen are said to be killed in the operation which was carried under a cloak darkness.

According to a senior US official, the SEALS were from the same elite Navy commando unit- SEAL Team Six that secretly entered Pakistan and killed Osama bin Laden.