US Hostage Killed During Rescue Attempt

06 Dec, 2014

U.S. special forces stormed a walled compound in a remote Yemeni village early on Saturday in an attempt to free western hostages held by an al Qaeda unit, but an American journalist and a South African teacher were killed by their captors, officials said.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and a Yemeni intelligence official said Luke Somers, 33, and South African Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot by their kidnappers shortly after the raid began in the arid Wadi Abadan district of Shabwa, a province long seen as one of al Qaeda’s most formidable strongholds.

It was the second U.S. attempt to free Somers in 10 days and Kerry said it had been approved because of information that Somers’ life was in imminent danger. “It was our assessment that that clock would run out on Saturday,” one U.S. official said.

However, the Gift of the Givers relief group, which was trying to secure Korkie’s release, said it had negotiated for the teacher to be freed and had expected that to happen on Sunday and for him to be returned to his family.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) is seen by Washington as one of al Qaeda’s most dangerous branches. The United States has worked with Yemen’s government and via drone strikes to attack its leaders in southern and eastern Yemen.

“The callous disregard for Luke’s life is more proof of the depths of AQAP’s depravity, and further reason why the world must never cease in seeking to defeat their evil ideology,” President Barack Obama said in a statement.

Obama said he had authorized the operation and said the United States would “spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located.”

U.S. officials said they knew Somers was at the location, partly because of information they gleaned during the earlier rescue attempt, and they were aware that a second hostage was there but did not know in advance who it was.

The men were each shot several times by at least one of their retreating guards, and not in crossfire, said the officials, who declined to be identified. The men were treated by medics but one died during the flight out and another aboard a U.S. ship. More than five militants were killed and no U.S. troops were hurt, they said.

Reuters 

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