US hostage threatened in al-Qaida Yemen video

Associated Press

SANAA, Yemen

Al-Qaida’s branch in Yemen threatened an American hostage who was the target of a rescue attempt by U.S. special forces last month, warning Washington in a video released Thursday not to try again, and giving it three days to meet unspecified demands.

“My life is in danger,” Luke Somers says in the footage, which appeared to mimic hostage videos released by al-Qaida’s rival, the Islamic State group.

It was the first word from the 33-year-old photojournalist since he was snatched from the streets of Sanaa more than a year ago. He had been working for nearly three years in the impoverished Arab nation, “living as a normal Yemeni,” friends and colleagues told The Associated Press.

In a video post of their own, Somers’ mother and brother said Somers was “only trying to do good things for the Yemeni population” and pleaded with his captors to spare him. “Luke is only a photojournalist and is not responsible for any actions the U.S. government has taken,” Somers’ brother, Jordan, said in the footage posted on YouTube.

Noting that her son “appears healthy” in his captors’ video, Paula Somers said: “We thank you for that. Please show mercy and give us an opportunity to see our Luke again.”

In a statement earlier Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby acknowledged for the first time that a raid last month had sought to rescue Somers but that he turned out not to be at the site.