SEALs free U.S., Dane hostages in Somalia Updated at 9:23 a.m. MOGADISHU, Somalia - The same U.S. Navy SEAL team that killed Osama bin Laden parachuted into Somalia under cover of darkness early Wednesday and crept up to an outdoor camp where an American woman and Danish man were being held hostage. Soon, nine kidnappers were dead and both hostages were freed. President Obama authorized the mission two days earlier, and minutes after he gave his State of the Union address to Congress he was on the phone with the American's father to tell him his daughter was safe. Mr. Obama referred to the mission before delivering the address. U.S. officials confirmed to CBS News national security correspondent David Martin that members of SEAL Team Six -- the same unit that killed Osama bin Laden last year -- parachuted into Somalia and were engaged in a firefight as they neared the pirates' compound in Adado. SEAL Team Six spotlighted again in Somalia raid The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagen Thisted, were "on their way to be reunited with their families." Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, were working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when gunmen kidnapped the two in October. The raiders came in quickly, catching the guards as they were sleeping after having chewed the narcotic leaf qat for much of the evening, a pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein told The Associated Press by phone. Hussein said he was not present at the site but had spoken with other pirates who were, and that they told him nine pirates had been killed in the raid and three were "taken away." New intelligence emerged last week that Buchanan's health was "deteriorating rapidly," so Mr. Obama directed his security team to develop a rescue plan, according to a senior administration official who was not authorized to speak publicly. "As Commander-in-Chief, I could not be prouder of the troops who carried out this mission, and the dedicated professionals who supported their efforts," Mr. Obama said in a statement released by the White House. The United States will not tolerate the abduction of our people, and will spare no effort to secure the safety of our citizens and to bring their captors to justice. A Western official said the rescuers and the freed hostages flew by helicopter to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonnier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Panetta visited Camp Lemonnier just over a month ago. A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. Buchanan lived in neighboring Kenya before Somalia, and worked at a school in Nairobi called the Rosslyn Academy from 2007-09, said Rob Beyer, the dean of students. He described the American as easy to laugh and adventurous. "There have been tears on and around the campus today," Beyer said. She was well-loved by all her students. The timing of the raid may have been made more urgent by Buchanan's medical condition. Soevndal congratulated the Americans for the raid. Ann Mary Olsen, head of the Danish Refugee Council's international department, informed Hagen Thisted's family of the successful military operation and said "they were very happy and incredibly relieved that it is over." "We are really happy with the successful release of the innocents kidnapped by evildoers," said Mohamud Sahal, an elder in Galkayo town, by phone. They were guests who were treated brutally. That was against Islam and our culture ... These men (pirates) have spoiled our good customs and culture, so Somalis should fight back.