US says 'no proof' to IS claim that airstrike killed American hostage; family 'hopeful' she is alive
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 07 February, 2015, 12:30pm
UPDATED : Sunday, 08 February, 2015, 3:43am
Agencies in Washington
The jihadist group IS claims an American aid worker it has been holding hostage since 2013 was killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria. Photo: AP
After 18 months of closely guarding the identity of a 26-year-old American aid worker believed to be the last American held hostage by Islamic State (IS), her family have revealed her identity after the group claimed she had been killed in a Jordanian air strike.
The US government said it had no evidence that Kayla Mueller, of Prescott, Arizona, had been killed during a raid by a Jordanian warplane in the Syrian city of Raqqa, the jihadists' self-proclaimed capital.
Jordanian government sources in Amman insisted the claim was "illogical" and "propaganda" and questioned how IS could be certain a Jordanian strike was responsible.
But the assertion was enough to prompt her family to release news organisations from promises to withhold her name under a blackout that has enveloped her case since she was taken hostage as she left a Medecins Sans Frontieres clinic in Aleppo, the besieged city in northern Syria, on August 4, 2013.
"This news leaves us concerned, yet, we are still hopeful that Kayla is alive," parents Carl and Marsha Mueller said in a statement published on NBC News.
Appealing to her captors, they added: "We have sent you a private message and ask that you respond to us privately."
Appealing for her safe return, they said they had previously been in touch with IS militants.
"You told us that you treated Kayla as your guest, as your guest her safety and well-being remains your responsibility," they said.
"Kayla's mother and I have been doing everything we can to get her released safely."
US officials said they were trying to verify the report, which came in a brief statement from Islamic State.
Jordanian Queen Rania, flanked by security, joins a demonstration in the capital Amman to express solidarity with the pilot murdered by the Islamic State (IS) group. Photo: AFP
Analysts cautioned against taking the statement at face value. IS has previously issued many misleading messages and has tried to capitalise on the fate of its hostages.
In the recent case of the Jordanian pilot, for instance, IS indicated to Jordanian authorities it would hold off on executing him if Amman released an Iraqi militant on death row. But Jordanian authorities now say the pilot had been killed weeks earlier and the militants were leading them on.
Mueller's name had been widely known among activists trying to free at least seven American and British hostages.
Tribune News Service, Agence France-Presse
