Kidnapped tourists land in France after Burkina Faso raid

Laurent Lassimouillas, left, said he and Picque should have heeded the French foreign ministry's advice to avoid risky areas of Benin. [AFP]

Three hostages freed in Burkina Faso in a special forces raid in which two French soldiers died on Saturday arrived in France to be greeted by President Emmanuel Macron.

The president and other top officials greeted Frenchmen Patrick Picque, 51, and Laurent Lassimouillas, 46, and a South Korean woman as they disembarked from the plane sent to fetch them at the Villacourblay military airport southwest of Paris.