Mike Ellicock was blown up on a special forces operation to save UK hostages in Sierra Leone, only surviving because he was wearing body armour.

BBC: London Marathon: Ex-paratrooper beats backpack record

In part, this has been helped by the success of a special-forces operation which, on Tuesday, rescued a 19-year-old female American soldier who was missing in action near Nasiriya.

ECONOMIST: Punching through to Baghdad

"We can confirm it was Chadian special forces that led the operation on the Sunday morning and attacked the barracks of the South Africans, " he said.

BBC: CAR's ousted leader Bozize says Chad aided rebels

As noted to you in my report of January 26, 2012, at my direction, on January 24, 2012, U.S. Special Operations Forces conducted a successful operation in Somalia to rescue Ms. Jessica Buchanan, a U.S. citizen who had been kidnapped by individuals linked to Somali pirate groups and financiers.

WHITEHOUSE: The White House

He said the special forces who carried out the operation "did an extraordinary job with just the slenderest of bits of information".

BBC: Bin Laden raid: Barack Obama describes 'huge risks'

This explains why US President Barack Obama was at pains to stress that, in the operation against Bin Laden's compound, US special forces were under orders to avoid civilian casualties.

BBC: Will Osama Bin Laden continue to haunt the US?

This operation was several weeks in the making, and the small village of Zargaran, in the southeastern province of Zabul, has been under surveillance much longer, says a Special Forces captain who is the commander of the joint operation.

NPR: U.S.-Afghan Force Raids Suspected Taliban Hideout

The rescue followed a weeks-long operation led by British troops and involving US and Canadian special forces, and information gleaned from two detainees just three hours before the rescue.

BBC: The hostages' release sparked celebrations

Chris Karsner, the U.S. Special Forces commander in Kandahar, says it will be a standard operation going in.

NPR: U.S.-Afghan Force Raids Suspected Taliban Hideout