Free at last - Jim Loney and colleagues rescued

British Foreign secretary Jack Straw has confirmed this morning that Sault Ste. Marie's James Loney and two fellow members of Christian Peacemaker Teams have been freed following a military operation today by multinational forces.

Loney and fellow Canadian hostage Harmeet Sooden have been taken to hospital.

British hostage Norman Kember is reported to be in a "reasonable condition."

Straw told reporters this morning that this morning's rescue was preceeded by "weeks and weeks of very careful work by military and coalition personnel in Iraq and many civilians as well".

In announcing the news this morning, Straw also alluded to their U.S colleague Tom Fox, who was found murdered two weeks ago.

"I'm delighted that now we have a happy ending to this terrible ordeal for Norman Kember, for his family, for the Canadian hostages, and for their families as well," Straw said.

"There's one last, very sad point, which is that there were four hostages captured originally, including one, an American, Mr. Fox, and it's a matter of great sorrow to everybody that he was killed a little while ago."

To join the British Broadcasting Corp.'s live video coverage of the release, please click here.

******************** 117 days - SooToday.com's complete coverage

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