Luke Somers
The United States military conducted a raid using Special Operations Forces to try and free US hostage Luke Sommers from AQAP (Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula) affiliates in Yemen. The raid was conducted in conjunction with the Yemeni military. Pierre Korkie a South African was also killed during the raid. It is unclear if the hostages were executed just
Pierre Korkie
prior to the raid or during the raid. However, it is likely that they were killed during the rescue attempt because negotiations had been underway by the Gift of the Givers organization to free Pierre. According to the Gift of the Givers organization Pierre was to be set free on Sunday. Pierre’s wife had earlier been a captive and the organization had negotiated her release. The US had attempted to the rescue due to the recent video released by AQAP that it would kill Sommers on Saturday if the US did not meet AQAP’s demands which were not included in the video released statement.
The US had made a previous attempt to secure the release of Sommers near the Saudi Arabia border in another raid that freed a total of 8 captives which included Yemenis, a Saudi national and one Ethiopian national. Somers and five others were not found at that site. Sommers had been kidnapped in September 2013 while leaving a supermarket in the capital city of Sanaa. Somers had worked as a free lance photographer for the National Yemen news agency since the 2011 uprising in the country.
The US had also conducted a drone strike earlier in the morning in prior to the Special Operations raid to free Luke Somers. It is estimated that the drone strike killed up to 10 militants. The drone strikes in Yemen are disliked because in addition to killing militants there are said to be high casualty rates among civilians. The raid may have taken place in the Shabwa Province in the vicinity of Wadi Abdan where helicopters were said to have been seen flying shortly after the drone strike.
Links to Stories:
American hostage ‘murdered’ during failed rescue attempt in Yemen
American Hostage Luke Somers Killed in US Rescue Attempt
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