ISIS Claims Female US Hostage Kayla Mueller Killed

[katietornado]

ISIS Claims Female American Hostage Kayla Jean Mueller Was Killed In Jordanian Airstrike

A media account affiliated with the Islamic State group has released a statement on Friday that claims a female American hostage held by the group was killed in a Jordanian airstrike in Raqqa, Syria.

The message, which was translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, identified the hostage as Kayla Jean Mueller.

"The Failed Jordanian Aircraft Killed an American Female Hostage," the statement claimed.

The extremists' claim could not be verified. The statement included images allegedly showing the bomb site, but provided no proof of the woman's death.

The Associated Press reports that American officials are looking into the claims.

U.S. officials said last year that a 26-year-old American woman was being held by the extremists after having been kidnapped in the Syrian city of Aleppo. They did not identify her out of fears for her safety.



More from the Associated Press:

BEIRUT (AP) — A purported statement by the Islamic State group claimed that an American female hostage was killed in a Jordanian airstrike on Friday on the outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Raqqa, the militant group's main stronghold.

The statement identified the woman as Kayla Jean Mueller and said she was killed during Muslim prayers — which usually take place around midday on Fridays — in airstrikes that targeted "the same location for more than an hour."

No Islamic State militants were killed in the airstrikes, the statement further claimed.

It published photos allegedly of the bombed site, showing a severely damaged brown colored three-story building — but no images of the woman.

American officials said they were looking into the report. The White House said it did not have immediate comment.

The statement could not be independently verified. It appeared on a militant website commonly used by IS and was also distributed by IS-affiliated Twitter users.

Mueller is an aid worker whose identity was never disclosed out of concerns for her safety.

A family representative told The Associated Press last year that the 26-year-old was working with humanitarian groups in Syria when she was captured in 2013.

If her death is confirmed, she would be the fourth American to die while in the captivity of the Islamic State militants. Three other Americans, journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid worker Peter Kassig were beheaded by the group.

Jordan, which is part of a U.S.-led coalition bombing Islamic State group targets in Syria, stepped up its attacks after IS announced it had killed a captive Jordanian pilot. The Syrian government said Thursday that dozens of Jordanian fighter jets had bombed Islamic State training centers and weapons storage sites. It did not say where the attacks occurred.

There was no word from the Jordanian government on whether its planes had struck Raqqa on Friday.

[Velar Fricative]

This is probably horrible to say and think but if this news is confirmed to be true, it seems like the most merciful thing that could have happened to her at this point.

[heyjude]

Feb 6, 2015 13:29:43 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

This is probably horrible to say and think but if this news is confirmed to be true, it seems like the most merciful thing that could have happened to her at this point.

That's what I was thinking. I shudder to think how she has been treated.

[WOT?*]

Why do I not believe them? They're trying to make Jordan into the bad guy and bring tension into a US/Jordan relationship, when in reality if they weren't such extremist terrorist (words fail me at this point) she never would have been at risk to begin with. And PP is right. If she was killed in the airstrike, she's probably much better off than she otherwise would have been.

Those extremist groups really need to find their twelve virgins or whatever their supposed reward is in the lowest bowels of hell.

[gringachef]

How convenient for Isis that those Jordanian airstrikes happened so that they could blame her death on them...I call Bullshit on their story.
Thankful that she's no longer suffering though. Lord only knows what they've been doing to her for the past 19 months:(

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 6, 2015 13:37:20 GMT -5 WOT?* said:

Why do I not believe them? They're trying to make Jordan into the bad guy and bring tension into a US/Jordan relationship, when in reality if they weren't such extremist terrorist (words fail me at this point) she never would have been at risk to begin with. And PP is right. If she was killed in the airstrike, she's probably much better off than she otherwise would have been.

Those extremist groups really need to find their twelve virgins or whatever their supposed reward is in the lowest bowels of hell.

I am inclined to believe them. I feel like ISIS has nothing to gain by publicizing her death; even showing that Jordan is to blame won't make anyone feel warmer fuzzies towards ISIS. They realize they lost any kind of leverage they could have had by keeping her alive (ETA: or at least not publicizing her death and making us all think she was still alive) until they decided to do the inevitable with her.

[Deleted]

Considering they negotiated with Jordan over the course of three weeks for a man they'd already burned alive, I'm going to wait before I believe this woman died in an airstrike.

[niemand88f]

OMG. I went to high school with her (very small high school, ~200 ppl). We hung out a bit when I first started going there, but she was more a friend of a friend. She was always an activist even back then, was involved in trying to save the local rivers and stuff.

[appleaday]

Feb 6, 2015 13:49:41 GMT -5 @helenabonhamcarter said:

Considering they negotiated with Jordan over the course of three weeks for a man they'd already burned alive, I'm going to wait before I believe this woman died in an airstrike.

Agreed. They're just trying to create hostility in the US towards Jordan. If it does turn out she died in the air strikes, as awful as it sounds, I think it's a 'blessing in disguise'. Who knows what ISIS has done to her and/or would have done to her...

[jillboston]

Feb 6, 2015 13:57:21 GMT -5 niemand88f said:

OMG. I went to high school with her (very small high school, ~200 ppl). We hung out a bit when I first started going there, but she was more a friend of a friend. She was always an activist even back then, was involved in trying to save the local rivers and stuff.

oh my goodness. I am sorry. and I hate these fuckers.

[Deleted]

I like how they claim no one from IS was killed. I find it highly doubtful that one of their prisoners was killed and no IS members were killed.

I think this a big from ploy for them. "Look what Jordan did!! They killed your innocent aide worker! But they didn't kill us!" Mmmkay. Go fuck yourselves.

[Velar Fricative]

Feb 6, 2015 13:57:21 GMT -5 niemand88f said:

OMG. I went to high school with her (very small high school, ~200 ppl). We hung out a bit when I first started going there, but she was more a friend of a friend. She was always an activist even back then, was involved in trying to save the local rivers and stuff.

I'm very sorry.

[KateAggie]

The same thought keeps running through my mind..."so?" And I don't mean that callously, I swear. But regardless of how she died, ISIS is responsible. Full stop.

[Cicero]

With no proof of life for a year and no proof she was killed in a bombing something tells me she has been dead for a while.

[jln]

Feb 6, 2015 23:04:35 GMT -5 Cicero said:

With no proof of life for a year and no proof she was killed in a bombing something tells me she has been dead for a while.

This was my first thought.  I want to believe she wasn't held captive long before she was killed.  Because I think death would have been better than being held by these monsters.