(NBO News) American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller has been killed in a Jordanian airstrike outside the Syrian city of Raqqah, the Islamic State (ISIS) group claims in a statement distributed online on Friday, which included three photographs of a partially destroyed building where Mueller allegedly died.
“The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombed a site outside the city of Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing Friday prayers, and the continuous raids on the same location lasted for more than an hour,” the group said in an Arabic-language statement, which was signed by the ‘Information Office of the Government of Raqqah.’
The statement added that none of its fighters were injured by the airstrike, and American hostage Kayla Jean Mueller was said to be the only casualty.
US can't confirm IS hostage claim, family urges caution
Washington (AFP) - The United States said Friday that it has not yet seen any proof to confirm a claim by the Islamic State group that a female American hostage has been killed in an air strike in Syria by a Jordanian plane.
The family of Kayla Mueller, 26, meanwhile urged media to be restrained in their reporting of the IS claim about the aid worker.
"The family... request that media cautiously report on her background, work and current situation and limit speculation on her situation, and consider the implications for her security before publishing," said a statement by her parents, Marsha and Carla Mueller.
Mueller was taken captive in August 2013 in the Syrian city of Aleppo, while working for a Spanish Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) hospital, according to the family statement, released via Arizona senator John McCain.
In a statement posted on jihadist websites, the IS group said the woman was buried beneath rubble after an air raid by a Jordanian warplane in Raqa.
The statement did not show any pictures of a body and there was no independent confirmation of her reported death.
National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan would only say: "We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports. We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim."
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