'American hostage married off to ISIS commander'
Yahoo and Agencies
February 11, 2015, 2:44 am
US President Barack Obama has denied reports a captive American aid worker was married off to an ISIS commander before her death.
Islamic State said on Friday that Kayla Mueller was killed when Jordanian fighter jets bombed a building where she was being held in Syria.
Photo: Kayla Mueller, 26, an American humanitarian worker from Prescott, Arizona is pictured in this undated handout photo obtained by Reuters February 6, 2015. REUTERS/Mueller Family/Handout via Reuters
U.S. officials have expressed doubt about Islamic State's account of her death but confirmed on Tuesday that the 26-year-old was dead.
New details have since emerged about Ms Mueller’s life in captivity, including suggestions from ‘counterterrorism officials’ that she had likely been forced to marry.
Matt Olsen, a former director of the National Counterterrorism Centre told ABC news the terror group is known for the “practice of essentially selling off, or putting young women and girls in the company of ISIS militants.”
Ms Mueller’s family said their daughter had been referred to as a ‘guest’ during private communications intercepted by US officials.
There had also been reported sightings of Ms Mueller in the company of an ISIS commander
Islamic State said on Friday that Kayla Mueller was killed in Jordanian airstrikes. Source: NBC
Mueller, from Prescott, Arizona, was thought to have been the last American held hostage by Islamic State, an al Qaeda offshoot that controls parts of Syria and Iraq.
But on Tuesday, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said, "We are aware of other American hostages being held in the region." He did not identify them or provide details.
Among hostages thought to be held by Islamic State is British photojournalist John Cantlie, captured in northern Syria in November 2012.
American journalist Austin Tice disappeared in Damascus in August 2012, and last week his family renewed its campaign to draw attention to his case. It is unclear who is holding Tice or if he is still alive.
Ms Mueller's hometown has been in mourning since her death. Source: NBC
Mueller's family said in a statement they were "heartbroken" to learn of her death, and released a letter she wrote in 2014 while in captivity.
She was captured in August 2013 while leaving a hospital in Aleppo in northern Syrian. Mueller had previously worked in Turkey providing humanitarian assistance to refugees from Syria's civil war.
In recent months, Islamic State has beheaded three Americans, two Britons, and two Japanese hostages, most of whom were aid workers or journalists.
U.S. SEEKS JUSTICE
"No matter how long it takes, the United States will find and bring to justice the terrorists who are responsible for Kayla's captivity and death," Obama said in a statement issued by the White House.
"ISIL is a hateful and abhorrent terrorist group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla," Obama said, using an acronym for the group.
The White House said Obama called Mueller's parents to offer condolences.
Last year, Obama ordered air strikes on Islamic State positions, and the United States is leading an international coalition against the group in Iraq and Syria.
U.S. officials said they had no evidence to support Islamic State claims Mueller was killed in a Jordanian air strike.
Two U.S. national security officials who have closely followed Mueller's situation said it appeared most likely she was killed in some kind of combat situation in which her captors were unable to keep her safe.
Even after Islamic State announced Mueller's death on Friday, her family expressed hope that she was still alive.
The family released a handwritten letter they said Mueller wrote to them last spring. In it, she stated she was "in a safe location, completely unharmed + healthy" and had been treated with "the utmost respect + kindness." She wrote "just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears."
"I will never ask you to forgive me as I do not deserve forgiveness," she wrote.
"I have been shown in darkness, light + have learned that even in prison, one can be free."
Asked about Mueller's family soliciting money to pay ransom to gain her release, the White House's Earnest reiterated that it is U.S. government policy not to pay such ransom because the money would be used to fund terrorist groups.
In an interview on Tuesday, Obama told BuzzFeed News that telling hostages’ families the United States would not pay ransom is “as tough as anything I do.”
He defended the policy, saying, "The reason is once we start doing that, not only are we financing their slaughter of innocent people and strengthening their organization, but we’re actually making Americans even greater targets for future kidnappings."
Statement released by US President Barack Obama. Source: NBC
Pentagon spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby dismissed Islamic State's assertion that the Jordanian air strike was responsible for Mueller's death. "Let's not forget in whose hands this woman died. And let's not forget who's ultimately responsible for it: ISIL," Kirby said.
Mueller went to Turkey in December 2012 to work for a Turkish organization providing humanitarian aid to Syrian refugees along the border with Syria. She previously volunteered for schools and aid groups abroad including in the West Bank, Israel and India.
Mueller's family quoted from another letter she sent her father on his birthday in 2011: "I will always seek God. Some people find God in church. Some people find God in nature.
Some people find God in love; I find God in suffering. I've known for some time what my life's work is, using my hands as tools to relieve suffering."
(Additional Reporting by Jeff Mason, Phil Stewart, Mark Hosenball, Alistair Bell, Emily Stephenson, Julia Edwards and Roberta Rampton; Writing by Will Dunham; Editing by Susan Heavey, Toni Reinhold)
***
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
11022015
___________
Cộng sản Việt Nam là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là ĐỒNG LÕA với TỘI ÁC
No comments:
Post a Comment