2014 news: U.S. rescue fails; hostages killed

Sunday 7 December 2014

U.S. rescue fails; hostages killed

State Department didn't know other hostage was South African, official tells CNN

Luke Somers "was really dedicated to Yemen," acquaintance tells CNN

Somers, a photojournalist, was captured in September last year

South African hostage Pierre Korkie was to be released on Sunday

(CNN) -- The element of surprise was lost in a failed U.S. military raid to rescue two hostages being held by al Qaeda militants in Yemen, a senior Defense Department official said Saturday.

American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African Pierre Korkie, a "respected teacher" who was to be released on Sunday, were fatally shot in the compound by a terrorist as the secret mission unfolded, a U.S. official said.

The relief group Gift of the Givers, which was helping secure Korkie's release, had recently informed his wife that "the waiting is almost over."

"Three days ago, we told her 'Pierre will be home for Christmas,'" said the group, which identified the South African hostage as Korkie. "We certainly did not mean it in the manner it has unfolded."

He was an "innocent man, a respected teacher," Korkie's wife, Yolande, said in a video made before his death.

U.S. President Barack Obama ordered Friday's mission because "there were compelling reasons to believe Mr. Somers' life was in imminent danger," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said.

American hostage pleads for his life

Somers' professor: 'Proud' of Luke

A video of Somers pleading for his life was released earlier this week by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. AQAP gave the U.S. three days to comply with unspecified demands. Time was running out.

Luke Somers, a photojournalist being held captive by al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was shown begging for his life in a video released by the terror group. Somers was killed by AQAP militants during a raid conducted by U.S. forces on Friday, December 5. A U.S. official said that during the raid, one of the terrorists ran inside the compound and shot Somers and South African hostage, Pierre Korkie.

Kenneth Bae is one of two American detainees released from North Korea in November. Bae had been held since late 2012, and in April 2013 was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor for unspecified "hostile acts" against the North Korean government. North Korea claimed Bae was part of a Christian plot to overthrow the regime.

Matthew Todd Miller also was allowed to leave North Korea with Kenneth Bae in November. According to the state-run Korean Central News Agency, he was convicted in September of committing "acts hostile" to North Korea and sentenced to six years of hard labor. He had traveled to North Korea after arranging a private tour through the U.S.-based company Uri Tours, which takes tourists into North Korea. He and Bae were released after U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper went to Pyongyang as an envoy of President Barack Obama, a senior State Department official told CNN.

Stacey Addison was detained on drug charges by police in East Timor in September during a taxi ride. Addison says she was sharing a taxi from near the Indonesian border to Dili, the capital of East Timor, when another passenger asked to stop and pick up a package at a DHL office. The package allegedly contained methamphetamine.

Washington Post Tehran Bureau Chief Jason Rezaian remains behind bars after being detained in Iran with his wife, Iranian journalist Yeganeh Salehi, in July under unclear circumstances. Salehi was released on bail in late October, according to The Post.

Jeffrey Edward Fowle was released from North Korea and returned home Wednesday, October 22, 2014. Fowle was accused of leaving a Bible in a restaurant. North Korea announced Fowle's detention in June, saying he had violated the law by acting "contrary to the purpose of tourism." Fowle told CNN: "I've admitted my guilt to the government and signed a statement to that effect and requested forgiveness from the people and the government of the DPRK."

American journalist Peter Theo Curtis was handed over to U.N. peacekeepers on August 24 after nearly two years in captivity. He is believed to have been captured in October 2012 and held by the al-Nusra Front, a Syrian rebel group with ties to al Qaeda.

Alan Gross, at right with Rabbi Arthur Schneier, has been in Cuban custody since December 2009, when he was jailed while working as a subcontractor. Cuban authorities say Gross tried to set up illegal Internet connections on the island. Gross says he was just trying to help connect the Jewish community to the Internet. Former President Jimmy Carter and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson have both traveled to Cuba on Gross' behalf, but they were unable to secure his release.

An Iranian court threw out a 2011 death sentence for Amir Hekmati, a former U.S. Marine charged with spying. But he was secretly retried in Iran and convicted of "practical collaboration with the U.S. government," his sister told CNN on April 11. He has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, she said. Hekmati was detained in August 2011 during a visit to see his grandmother. His family and the Obama administration deny accusations he was spying for the CIA.

This undated image provided by the U.S. Army shows Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who had been held by insurgents in Afghanistan since 2009. The White House announced Bergdahl's release on May 31. Bergdahl was released in exchange for five senior Taliban members held by the U.S. military.

Retired FBI agent Robert Levinson has been missing since 2007. His family says he was working as a private investigator in Iran when he disappeared, and multiple reports suggest Levinson may have been working for the CIA. His family told CNN in January that they have long known that Levinson worked for the CIA, and they said it's time for the government to lay out the facts about Levinson's case. U.S. officials have consistently denied publicly that Levinson was working for the government, but they have repeatedly insisted that finding him and bringing him home is a "top" priority.

Warren Weinstein, a contractor held by al Qaeda militants, is a U.S. citizen who has been held hostage in Pakistan since August 2011.

U.S. tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at the Beijing airport on December 7 after being released by North Korea. Newman was detained in October 2013 by North Korean authorities just minutes before he was to depart the country after visiting through an organized tour. His son Jeff Newman said the Palo Alto, California, man had all the proper paperwork and set up his trip through a North Korean-approved travel agency.

Mexican authorities arrested Yanira Maldonado, a U.S. citizen, right, in May 2013, for alleged drug possession. She and her husband, Gary, were traveling from Mexico back to the United States when their bus was stopped and searched. She was released a few days later and is now back in the United States.

Saeed Abedini, a 33-year-old U.S. citizen of Iranian birth, was sentenced to eight years in prison in January 2013. He was accused of attempting to undermine the Iranian government and endangering national security by establishing home churches.

North Korea has arrested Americans before, only to release them after a visit by a prominent dignitary. Journalists Laura Ling, center, and Euna Lee, to her right, spent 140 days in captivity after being charged with illegal entry to conduct a smear campaign. They were freed in 2009 after a trip by former President Bill Clinton.

Former President Jimmy Carter negotiated the release of Aijalon Gomes, who was detained in 2010 after crossing into North Korea illegally from China. Analysts say high-level visits give Pyongyang a propaganda boost and a way to save face when it releases a prisoner.

Eddie Yong Su Jun was released by North Korea a month after he was detained in April 2011. His alleged crime was not provided to the media. The American delegation that secured his freedom included Robert King, the U.S. special envoy for North Korean human rights issues.

Robert Park was released by North Korea in 2010 without any apparent U.S. intervention. The Christian missionary crossed into North Korea from China, carrying a letter asking Kim Jong Il to free political prisoners and resign. North Korea's state-run news agency said Park was released after an "admission and sincere repentance of his wrongdoings." Here, Park holds a photo of Kim and a malnourished child during a protest in Seoul.

Josh Fattal, center, Sarah Shourd, left, and Shane Bauer were detained by Iran while hiking near the Iraq-Iran border in July 2009. Iran charged them with illegal entry and espionage. Shourd was released on bail for medical reasons in September 2010; she never returned to face her charges. Bauer and Fattal were convicted in August 2011, but the next month they were released on bail and had their sentences commuted.

Haleh Esfandiari, an Iranian-American scholar, was detained at Iran's Evin Prison, spending months in solitary confinement before Iran released her on bail in August 2007. Esfandiari was visiting her ailing mother in Tehran when she was arrested and charged with harming Iran's national security.

Sixteen Americans were among the dozens arrested in December 2011 when Egypt raided the offices of 10 nongovernmental organizations that it said received illegal foreign financing and were operating without a public license. Many of the employees posted bail and left the country after a travel ban was lifted a few months later. Robert Becker, right, chose to stay and stand trial.

Filmmaker Timothy Tracy was arrested in Venezuela in April 2013 on allegations of funding opponents of newly elected President Nicolas Maduro, successor to the late Hugo Chavez. Tracy went to Venezuela to make a documentary about the political division gripping the country. He was released in June 2013.

Americans detained abroad

Photos: Americans detained abroad

Arrangements for Korkie's release may have been missed by the White House.

The Obama administration assessed that there were two individuals at the location but did not know one was South African or that negotiations were under way for his release, a senior State Department official told CNN.

Korkie and his wife were abducted in May of last year, but AQAP subsequently let his wife go. On Friday, a team of local leaders was finalizing arrangements to reunite Korkie with his wife and children, the relief group said in a statement.

Obama's decision

The President condemned AQAP's killing of the two hostages and explained his decision to authorize the rescue attempt.

"Earlier this week, a video released by his terrorist captors announced that Luke would be killed within 72 hours," Obama said in a statement. "I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke."

Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement that the President had received a recommendation to authorize the operation.

Obama offered his condolences to Somers' family.

"I also offer my thoughts and prayers to the family of a non-U.S. citizen hostage who was also murdered by these terrorists during the rescue operation," the statement read. "Their despair and sorrow at this time are beyond words."

South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation expressed its "deepest condolences to the family and friends of Mr Korkie for their loss. Condolences are also conveyed to the family and loved ones of the deceased American hostage."

'They lost the element of surprise'

The operation took place Friday at 5 p.m. ET, a U.S. official told CNN.

On Thursday, the Defense Department became aware of enough new intelligence about the location of the hostages to stage a rescue mission, the official said. A senior Defense Department official traveling with Hagel in Afghanistan said that the operation was accelerated because there was intelligence that Somers would be killed on Saturday morning, Eastern time.

Obama and Hagel were briefed the next day.

Two Osprey aircraft transported a team of about three dozen U.S. Navy SEALs, mainly from SEAL Team 6, and a combat medical team near the captives' location. There were no Yemeni forces with the U.S. commandos.

The official traveling with Hagel said that once the Ospreys landed, the team had to trek about 10 kilometers (6 miles) to the compound.

They were discovered about 100 meters from the location where Korkie and Somers were being held, according to that official. The main part of the assault lasted five to 10 minutes.

"They lost the element of surprise at the last minute as they approached the compound," the official said.

It was not clear where the kidnappers were when the firefight started, but the official said that the U.S. is certain that someone ran back inside the compound and shot Korkie and Somers after the battle broke out. The official would not specify how it could be certain of that detail.

Difficult, 'precision' mission

U.S. forces were on the ground for about 30 minutes, an official told CNN. They stayed for that length of time because the combat medical team was trying to stabilize the two wounded hostages.

According to another official, the hostages were loaded onto a plane and flown to a nearby U.S. ship.

One of the hostages died before reaching the ship. The other died afterward.

Drones and fighter jets patrolled overhead during the mission.

The U.S. forces that carried out the mission are safe, a U.S. defense official said. Both the President and Kerry praised their valor.

The hostages were being kept at a location close to one where U.S. and Yemeni forces had carried out a previous raid.

This rescue mission was particularly difficult, due in part to Yemen's sparse population, retired Lt. Col. James Reese, global affairs analyst for CNN, said Saturday.

Reese noted that it would have been difficult for the military to travel a significant distance by air and still maintain the element of surprise in a rescue operation.

"It has to take precision," he said. "This is like brain surgery."

A previous attempt

It was the second such attempt by U.S. forces in two weeks.

In the first attempt, in November, U.S. and Yemeni special forces outfitted with night visors embarked on the mission about a few miles from a cave where AQAP was holding hostages.

A gunbattle ensued, and the special forces killed all seven abductors and freed eight hostages. But the militants had separated Somers and four more hostages from the group and moved them to another location two days before the raid.

This week, AQAP released a video threatening to kill Somers and showing the American photojournalist pleading for his life.

A spokesman read a statement saying Somers would be killed if Washington did not meet the terror group's demands. The spokesman did not name the demands but said the U.S. government knew what they were.

Pleading for his life

Somers' brother and mother posted a response video to YouTube in which they pleaded with the militants to spare him.

"He is not responsible for any actions that the U.S. government has taken. Please understand that we had no prior knowledge of the rescue attempt for Luke, and we mean no harm to anyone," Jordan Somers said.

Paula Somers thanked his captors for taking good care of him, but also asked her son be returned to her alive.

"Please show mercy and give us an opportunity to see our Luke again. He is all that we have," she said.

Tik Root, a former freelance journalist, met Luke Somers when they were both in Yemen.

"Of all the people I met in Yemen, Luke is certainly not the person that should have happened to," Root told CNN. "He was passionate about the country, its people, and he was just a very thoughtful, quirky guy."

Root is now a desk assistant for PBS NewsHour, and he wrote about Somers on Saturday morning on NewsHour's website.

"I didn't know him particularly well but we did cross paths about a dozen times," Root said. "He was really dedicated to Yemen."

2014 news

Sunday 7 December 2014

U.S. rescue fails; hostages killed

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