A photojournalist from the US held by extremists in Yemen was killed in a failed rescue attempt, his sister said yesterday, while media outlets reported that he had been freed. US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel confirmed the death later yesterday, adding that the attempt to free the captives was justified.
“There were compelling reasons to believe Mr Somers’ life was in imminent danger,” Hagel said in Kabul.
Lucy Somers told reporters that she learned of her 33-year-old brother Luke Somers’ death from US FBI agents.
“We ask that all of Luke’s family members be allowed to mourn in peace,” Lucy Somers said.
Meanwhile, Reuters reported that Luke Somers had been rescued by Yemeni armed forces in a mission that also killed 10 members of the group holding him, Yemen’s Ministry of Defense said on its Web site.
It did not name the hostage, but said the operation took place in the Wadi Abdan al-Daqqar region of Shabwa Province in southern Yemen and targeted an al-Qaeda group headed by Mubarak al-Harad.
A security source told Reuters that the operation included an air strike followed by a raid involving Yemeni and US forces.
Yemen’s local al-Qaeda branch, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, posted a video on Thursday that showed Somers, threatening to kill him in three days if the US failed to meet the group’s demands, which were not specified in the video. He was kidnapped in September last year from Sana’a.
The news of the failed rescue comes after a suspected US drone strike in Yemen killed nine alleged al-Qaeda militants earlier in the day, a security official said.
The drone struck at dawn in Yemen’s southern Shabwa Province, hitting a suspected militant hideout, the official said. The official did not elaborate and spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to brief journalists.
At least six suspected militants were killed in an airstrike in the same province last month. Later yesterday, tribal leaders said they saw helicopters flying over an area called Wadi Abdan in Shabwa.
US authorities rarely discuss their drone campaign in Yemen.
The airstrikes are incredibly unpopular in Yemen due to civilian casualties, legitimizing for many the attacks on US interests.
In an online video released yesterday, Lucy Somers described her older brother as a romantic who “always believes the best in people.” She ended with the plea: “Please let him live.”
In a statement, Somers’ father, Michael, also called his son “a good friend of Yemen and the Yemeni people” and asked for his release.
In a statement on Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby acknowledged for the first time that a mysterious US raid last month had sought to rescue Luke Somers, but that he turned out not to be at the site.
Kirby did not elaborate on the joint US-Yemeni operation to free the hostage, saying that details remained classified. However, officials have said the raid targeted a remote al-Qaeda safe haven in a desert region near the border with Saudi Arabia.
Eight captives — including Yemenis, a Saudi and an Ethiopian — were freed.
Additional reporting by reuters
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