Washington says no proof female US hostage killed in airstrike
The United States says there is no proof of an ISIL claim that a female American hostage has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike in northern Syria.
The ISIL terrorist group said in a statement on Friday that Kayla Jean Mueller of Prescott, Arizona, whom it was holding in the city of Raqqa was killed when Jordanian fighter jets bombed a building where she was being held.
"The plane from the crusader coalition bombed a position outside the city of Raqqa after Friday prayers," the statement said. "No fighter was wounded but we can confirm that an American hostage was killed in the strikes."
ISIL did not provide any pictures of a dead body, but the group identified the hostage by name and issued her address in the United States.
A senior US official said Washington could not confirm that the 26-year-old humanitarian aid worker, who was taken captive in the northern Syria city of Aleppo in August 2013, had been killed.
"We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports. We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim," US National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said on Friday.
Mueller's family called her "extremely devoted to the people of Syria," adding that she had "devoted her career to helping those in need in countries around the world".
The ISIL terrorists, who were initially trained by the CIA in Jordan in 2012 to destabilize the Syrian government, have beheaded three American, two British and two Japanese hostages in recent months. The videos of their beheadings were posted online.
This week, an ISIL video surfaced showing the terrorists purportedly torching a captured Jordanian pilot, 26-year-old Moaz al-Kassasbeh, to death. After the incident, Jordan's King Abdullah vowed to wage a "harsh" war against ISIL.
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