Mogadishu (Alshahid)-Somali Special Forces have rescued a South African couple kidnapped by pirates in the Indian Ocean and held for 18 months, Defense Minister Hussein Arab Isse said Thursday.

“The rescue started last night (Wednesday) and lasted until this morning and you can see that the pair were freed safely,” Isse told a joint press conference with the couple, Debbie Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari.

Isse said the couple were freed from “Al-Qaeda-affiliated” insurgents.

Sources said the operation took place in the lower Shabelle region of southern Somalia, close to Mogadishu.

“We’re very happy to get our freedom back,” an exhausted but smiling Calitz told journalists at the presidential palace in Mogadishu, Somalia.

The couple were kidnapped from their yacht off the south-eastern coast of Africa in October 2010 and were held by Somali pirates who demanded $10m (R83m) from the family.