French agent Marc Aubriere's amazing barefoot escape through Mogadishu

THEY had taken away his shoes to ensure he could not get far if he broke out.So Marc Aubriere, one of two French intelligence agents captured in Somalia by Islamic extremists, trained barefoot for weeks in his cell, walking back and forth across the concrete to toughen his feet for his escape.
French officials listened in amazement last week to Aubriere's account of his dash to freedom through one of the most perilous cities in the world. Following his debriefing in Paris, Aubriere, whose espionage colleague is still being held in captivity and faces execution, is expected to spend time with his family after medical checks.
In what seemed like a calculated affront to French national pride, the two secret agents, on a mission to train soldiers protecting Somalia's transitional government, were snatched from their hotel in Mogadishu on July 14 - Bastille Day - by gunmen impersonating police.
"They knocked on the door," said Aubriere, 40. "They had Kalashnikovs. That was that."
The Frenchmen were taken away in a truck but it broke down after a few hundred metres. It might have seemed farcical were it not for the swift arrival of fighters from Hizbul Islam, one of the most ruthless of the militia groups who kidnap and kill as part of the battle for control of Mogadishu.
They surrounded the truck and tense negotiations ensued. The Hizbul Islam fighters agreed to let the other gunmen go in exchange for the foreign prisoners.
When al-Shabaab, another al-Qa'ida-inspired militant group, got to hear about the valuable foreign hostages, it demanded a share of the booty. Al-Shabaab and Hizbul Islam have joined forces to overthrow the government. It was decided that al-Shabaab could have Aubriere's colleague, identified only as Denis A, as their prisoner. Aubriere found himself alone in a windowless cell in a place he referred to as "the stronghold". He insists his captors treated him well. "They were young guys but good guys," he said. ..more..http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26002851-32682,00.html