White House: No Proof Jordanian Airstrike Killed US Hostage
by VOA News February 06, 2015
The White House said Friday in cannot confirm Islamic State's claim that a Jordanian airstrike killed an female American aid worker held hostage by the group.
'We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports,' said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. 'We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim.'
Jordanian officials call Islamic State's claim 'criminal propaganda.' Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said on Twitter it is 'an old and sick trick used by terrorists and despots for decades -- claiming that hostage human shields held captive are killed by air raids.'
Jordan has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets following the group's murder of a Jordanian pilot who was captured in Syria in December. The claim that she was killed in an airstrike was greeted with skepticism, after Jordanian authorities said their pilot was killed a month before IS released a video showing his death.
The American aid worker was identified by her family as Kayla Mueller of Prescott, Arizona. Those who know Kayla say she was deeply moved by the suffering of civilians stuck in poverty and caught up in war and terrorism. She had worked in Syria and volunteered with aid groups in the West Bank and India.
Her family issued a statement Friday saying 'the common thread of Kayla's life has been her quiet leadership and strong desire to serve others.'
Islamic State said she was killed when a Jordanian airstrike hit the building where she was being held in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
The militants kidnapped her when she left a hospital in Aleppo in 2013.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the State Department has acknowledged there are Americans being held overseas, including by the Islamic State, but said she could not get into any further details about this specific case.
Amman rally
In Jordan's capital, Amman, Friday, thousands of people flooded the streets in support of the Jordanian military pilot murdered by Islamic State militants.
The demonstrators marched through the city after Friday prayers at the al-Husseini mosque, waving Jordanian flags and chanting slogans against the Islamic State group.
Jordan says recent airstrikes against Islamic State targets are only the beginning of its retaliation.
'The Jordan army's response to ISIS [Islamic State militants] and what they have done to Muath and all of the other innocent people is totally justified,' said a doctor in Amman [Dr. Ayman Khamoudeh] taking part in Friday's protests. 'If no one puts a struggle against them and fights them, who else will fight them?'
Jordanian warplanes launched dozens of airstrikes against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq Thursday after King Abdullah vowed an 'earth-shaking' response to the killing.
A slickly produced Islamic State video emerged this week, showing the pilot, locked in a cage, doused with fuel and burned alive.
King Abdullah visited Kaseasbeh's family at their home Thursday. He said Jordan will continue the fight to defend its people and religion.
Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh told CNN television late Thursday that Jordan will go after Islamic State militants 'wherever they are, with everything we have.'
'We're going to go after them and we will eradicate them,' said Judeh, who referred to Islamic State fighters as 'cowards.'
U.S. Defense Department officials said Thursday the Pentagon has moved aircraft and pilots to northern Iraq to better position themselves in search and rescue missions in Iraq and Syria. Some of the assets were moved from Kuwait.
Also Thursday, a leader of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters told VOA his ground forces are in need of military assistance in their fight against Islamic State
'NATO and the United States should understand that we need political and military assistance,' said commander Wasta Rasul. 'I ask formally that their ground forces participate in the war with us, and why should the Kurds do it alone as we fight on behalf of the world.'
Material for this report came from AP, AFP, and Reuters.
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