Denis Allex and Marc Aubrière were deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia in 2009 by the French Directorate-General for External Security (DGSE) to train soldiers from the Transitional Federal Government.

While the truck was incapacitated, the captors were confronted by members of Hizbul Islam, a Somali Islamist militia, who demanded custody of the hostages.

[3] On 25 August 2009, according to his version of events, Aubrière, who was being held in Mogadishu, escaped from his captors in the middle of the night while they slept.

US and French satellites and unmanned reconnaissance flights monitored the hostage's location for several months as operators from DGSE Division Action unit planned the rescue mission.

Erard Corbin de Mangoux, the then-director general of the DGSE intended to secure the release of Allex before the end of his term through a negotiation of a ransom.

The DGSE sent a 50-man Close Quarter Battle Group of the Division Action (known as CPIS) to Camp Lemonnier where they trained for the mission with a small team of United States Navy SEALs from Red squadron, DEVGRU.

They encircled a small home on the outskirts of the town as numerous Al-Shabaab militants were inside, allegedly with Allex.

He then claims that he picked up a PK machine gun and immediately opened fire on a French soldier at the door.

[16][17] Following the raid, Al-Shabaab captured a range of weapons, of which they posted photos of online with the caption “A return of the crusades, but the cross could not save him from the sword.

[20] The following day, US President Barack Obama indicated in a War Powers Resolution letter to Congress that US Air Force warplanes had entered Somali airspace in limited support of the French rescue operation.