(Newswire.net — December 6, 2014) — Luke Somers, a 33-years-old British-born American citizen, worked as a photojournalist for the Yemen Times. He was kidnapped in Yemen’s capitol in 2013, however, earlier this week, Yemeni Al-Qaeda militants released a video threatening to kill him if US did not meet their demands. Al-Qaeda didn’t disclose the demands, however, they say US knows their demands.
According to New York Times, a drone strike believed to have been carried out by the US is reported to have killed nine suspected al-Qaeda militants in the region. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Defense Ministry said that the US hostage had been rescued by a Yemeni armed forces operation during which 10 militants have been killed. The US State Department, however, said there were conflicting reports over the outcome of the rescue operation in Yemen.
At the time, it was believed the freed American hostage was Somers. However, a senior American official told The New York Times that Somers was killed during a rescue operation by US Seals.
According to the source, kidnapers shot Somers while they were being attacked by US troops. The badly wounded hostage was flown to a US naval ship in the region, where he died from his injuries.
In the same operation, eight hostages were rescued, but five others were moved elsewhere by the Al-Qaeda militants and remained in captivity. A second hostage, Pierre Korkie from South Africa, also died during the raid.
Somer’s family appealed in a video to Al-Qaeda militants in Yemen to ‘show mercy’ because he is a good man.
“Luke is only a photojournalist and is not responsible for any actions the US government has taken,” his brother, Jordan, said in a video.
AQAP is regarded by the US as one of the deadliest offshoots of Al-Qaeda.
To counter AQAP, the US has been training Yemen’s military on-the-ground and launching drone attacks on the militants.