US officials have defended the commando raid in south Yemen that led to the deaths of two hostages, saying they did not know the soon-to-be-freed South African teacher Pierre Korkie was being held at the site they attacked.
Mr Korkie and American photojournalist Luke Somers were killed during the raid in the early hours on Saturday. Both were in the same room and were apparently executed by their captors when a US special forces squad was within 100 metres of their mountain compound.
A senior US administration official briefed on the operation said intelligence experts had concluded, prior to the raid, that two hostages were being held. “One was assessed to be Luke Somers,” the official said. “We did not know who the second hostage was.”
South Africa said it did not want to assign blame for Mr Korkie's death. "This is no time for finger pointing," said foreign ministry spokesman Nelson Kgwete. "We are working with the government of the United States, as well as the government of Yemen, to ensure that we bring finality to this tragic incident."
Imminent danger
Locals reported that the raid killed 11 people, among them a woman and a 10-year-old child. The US said five militants had been killed, while others escaped.
The raid was launched after the US military concluded Mr Somers was in imminent danger. An earlier attempt to rescue him on November 25th had led al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen to threaten to kill the British-born American, held for much of the past 18 months since he was seized from the streets of the capital Sana’a, reportedly by tribal figures who later sold him on.
While Mr Somers’ fate had remained unclear, a South African charity said it had been close to finalising a deal to free Mr Korkie, who was seized along with his wife, Yolande, by al-Qaeda in May 2013. The couple had been in Yemen for four years with two teenage children; he worked as a teacher and she did relief work.
Yolande was released without ransom in January after negotiations conducted by Gift of the Givers, a South African charity.
The charity’s head, Imtiaz Sooliman, said mediators from a tribe in Yemen had convinced al-Qaeda to hand over Mr Korkie for a “facilitation fee” of $200,000 (€163,000) after dropping a $3 million ransom (€2.44 million) demand. Mr Korkie’s family and friends were able and willing to pay.
Tribal leaders met in Aden on Saturday morning “and were preparing the final security and logistical arrangements, related to hostage release mechanisms, to bring Pierre to safety and freedom,” Mr Sooliman said.
He didn’t criticise the US intervention. “I can’t hold anything against them because any government would act in the interests of their own people.”
The US official, meanwhile, said Washington “had no knowledge” of the agreement negotiated between the charity and a Yemeni tribe.
– (Guardian Service)