'They ran like cowards' Family reveals dramatic detail on rescue from Taliban terror groupA FAMILY taken hostage by the Taliban and released in a dramatic firefight have revealed more about their time in captivity with the terrorists as they return home.
By ZOIE O'BRIEN
17:11, Sun, Oct 15, 2017 | UPDATED: 17:36, Sun, Oct 15, 2017
Joshua Boyle, his wife and his three children have returned to Canada
Joshua Boyle, his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, and their three children are undergoing medical tests after they were rescued from the clutches of the Haqqani network in Aghanistan.
Taliaban-linked Haqqani took the couple hostage in 2012 after they travelled to the nation to help in the war ravaged middle east.
Caitlin was pregnant at the time and gave birth to three children in captivity.
The family were rescued Wednesday after co-operation between the US and the Pakistani military.
In a video released by Pakistan, Mr Boyle described the final day in their captors’ clutches.
Mr Boyle explained Pakistani security forces stood between them and their captors during the dramatic rescue.
He said the soldier he spoke were was angry his colleagues being killed and risking their lives while Washington accuses Pakistan of working with the Haqqani network.
The Haqqani network in Aghanistan took Joshua Boyle and his pregnant wife hostage
They put them to flight and they ran like cowards
Joshua Boyle
Mr Boyle said: “A major comes over to me while I still have blood on me.
“The street is chaos and he says to me, 'In the American media they say that we support the Haqqani network and that we make it possible. Today you have seen the truth. Did we not put bullets in those bastards?'.
“And so I can say to you I did see the truth, and the truth was that car was riddled with bullets. The ISI (Pakistan's intelligence agency) and the army got between the criminals and the car to make sure the prisoners were safe and my family was safe.
"They put them to flight and they ran like cowards. This is proof enough to me the Pakistanis are doing everything to their utmost.”
Mr Boyle has said the Taliban linked group killed their newborn daughter and raped his wife in an area which had no presence of soldiers or government control.
He said the family was being transported in the boot of their captors' car when they were rescued.
The US, which has targeted the Haqqani group with drones, was involved in the operation, Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Nafees Zakaria, confirmed.
The release details have been scant but a US official claimed information which allowed soldiers to find the family was passed from the Pentagon to Pakistan.
Mr Boyle, however, has been vocal in his distaste for the US.
He wrote in a statement: “God has given me and my family unparalleled resilience and determination, and to allow that to stagnate, to pursue personal pleasure or comfort while there is still deliberate and organized injustice in the world would be a betrayal of all I believe, and tantamount to sacrilege."
The family has returned to Smiths Falls, Ontario where their children have their “first proper home”.
Mr Boyle was once married to Zaynab Khadr, the daughter of a senior Al Qaeda financier and the sister of Guantanamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr.
Ahmed Said Khadr and his family once stayed with Osama bin Laden briefly.
US officials said they are not linking Boyle to any terror activity, saying it was a “horrible coincidence” he was captured and rescued.
The US Justice Department said neither Mr Boyle nor Ms Coleman is wanted for any federal crime.
Donald Trump praised Pakistan for the intervention which saved Coleman and Boyle’s lives.
Taliban group ambushed by the Pakistani military to save Joshua Boyle and Caitlan Coleman's family
