SANAA, YEMEN — An American photojournalist and a South African teacher held by al-Qaida militants in Yemen have been killed in a failed US rescue attempt, authorities said on Saturday.
President Barack Obama said he had ordered the raid in which Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie were killed after al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula posted a video online Thursday threatening to kill Somers.
Information "indicated that Luke's life was in imminent danger", Obama said. "Based on this assessment, and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, I authorised a rescue attempt. ... I also authorised the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke."
In a picture taken in February last year, British-born photojournalist Luke Somers attands a parade marking the second anniversary of the revolution in Sanaa, Yemen.(AP Photo)
The aid group Gift of Givers later identified the second hostage as South African teacher Pierre Korkie, who the group said was to be released Sunday. They said he was to be flown out of Yemen "under diplomatic cover, then to meet with family members in a 'safe' country (and) fly to South Africa".
Lucy Somers, the photojournalist's sister, told The Associated Press that she and her father learned of her 33-year-old brother's death from FBI agents.
"We ask that all of Luke's family members be allowed to mourn in peace," Lucy Somers said from London.
Yemen's national security chief, Maj Gen Ali al-Ahmadi, said the militants planned to kill Luke Somers on Saturday.
"Al-Qaida promised to conduct the execution so there was an attempt to save them but unfortunately they shot the hostage before or during the attack." al-Ahmadi said at a conference in Manama, Bahrain. "He was freed but unfortunately he was dead."
Yemen's local al-Qaida branch, Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, posted a video on Thursday that showed Somers, threatening to kill him in three days if the United States didn't meet the group's demands, which weren't specified. He was kidnapped in September 2013 from Sanaa.
The news of the failed rescue comes after a suspected US drone strike in Yemen killed nine alleged al-Qaida militants early Saturday, a Yemeni security official said before news of Somers' death.
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.
In a picture taken in January this year, Yolande Korkie attends a news conference in Johannesburg to appeal for the release of her husband Pierre in Yemen. He was killed in a failed raid to free captives this week. (AFP Photo)
Later Saturday, tribal leaders said they saw helicopters flying over an area called Wadi Abdan in Shabwa province.
American authorities rarely discuss their drone strike campaign in Yemen. The strikes are despised by many in Yemen due to civilian casualties, legitimising for many the attacks on American interests. At least six suspected militants were killed in an airstrike in the same province last month.
Before her brother's death, Lucy Somers released an online video describing him as a romantic who "always believes the best in people" She ended with the plea: "Please let him live."
Somers' father, Michael, also called his son "a good friend of Yemen and the Yemeni people" and asked for his safe release.
Korkie was kidnapped in the Yemeni city of Taiz in May, along with his wife Yolande. His wife later was released returned to South Africa. A non-government group, Gift of the Givers, helped mediate her release. Those close to Korkie said al-Qaida militants demanded a $3 million ransom for his release.
"The psychological and emotional devastation to Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released by al Qaida tomorrow," Gift of Givers said in a statement Saturday. "A team of Abyan leaders met in Aden this morning and were preparing the final security and logistical arrangements, related to hostage release mechanisms, to bring Pierre to safety and freedom. It is even more tragic that the words we used in a conversation with Yolande at 5.59 this morning was 'The wait is almost over.'"
Somers was kidnapped in September 2013 as he left a supermarket in tSanaa, said Fakhri al-Arashi, chief editor of the National Yemen, where Somers worked as a copy editor and a freelance photographer during the 2011 uprising in Yemen.
Somers, who was born in Britain, earned a bachelor's degree in creative writing while attending Beloit College in Wisconsin from 2004-07.
"He really wanted to understand the world," said Shawn Gillen, an English professor and chairman of Beloit College's journalism program who had Gillen as a student.