ِAmerican journalist Luke Somers, 33 and South African teacher Pierre Korkie were killed Saturday by al-Qaeda militants after a failed rescue attempt by U.S. Special Operation forces. The British Telegraph reported that the American journalist and the South African teacher were held hostage for more than one year by al-Qaeda's Yemen branch . "US Special Operations Forces conducted a mission in Yemen to rescue a US citizen, Luke Somers, and any other foreign nationals held hostage with him by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) terrorists," Hagel said in a statement released during a visit to Kabul. Both hostages died later after U.S. forces evacuated them from the building where they were held, U.S. and Yemeni officials said. In addition, Yemen's defense ministry statements confirmed that 10 al-Qaeda members had been killed in the raid. US President Barack Obama condemned the "barbaric murder" of the hostages in Yemen and expressed his condolences for the hostages' families, Reuters reported. He added that the United States will spare no effort to use its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to return Americans to their homeland safely wherever they are.
