A South Korean tourist being held captive by an unidentified armed gang in Burkina Faso has been released following a rescue operation by France's special forces, Seoul's Foreign Ministry said Friday.

An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that a South Korean citizen is under the protection of the French military following the rescue operation.
"We were notified this afternoon by the French government that a South Korean hostage was rescued," the official said. "There was no missing person report filed with us. We're currently looking into how the person got kidnapped and rescued."

Earlier, the French government announced that a South Korean citizen, a US woman and two French tourists kidnapped in the Sahel region of Africa were freed in the military operation, which cost the lives of two French soldiers. The operation to rescue the hostages took place overnight in northern Burkina Faso, it said.

The ministry said the French government will transport the South Korean tourist to France on the weekend. (Yonhap)