ISIS Claims Female American Hostage, Kayla Mueller, Killed in Airstrike
The terror group ISIS released a statement today claiming that Kayla Mueller, a female American hostage the group had been holding, was killed in a Jordanian airstrike recently.
The statement, which circulated on Twitter, said an airstrike outside Raqqa, Syria killed the 26-year-old Mueller. The statement used Mueller’s full name, which had not been public.
The claim could not be immediately confirmed and ISIS did not provide photographic evidence of Mueller’s death, as the group has in the past with other hostages and its own fighters.
A spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said they have “not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL’s claim,” using an alternate acronym for the terror group.
A Jordanian official told ABC News ISIS's claim was "illogical" and was part of the terror group's public relations campaign. "We need to be very careful not to fall in their trap," the official said.
Jordan's Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh, called ISIS's claim "an old and sick trick."
"So they behead innocent #US #UK & Japan hostages & BURN a brave #jordan pilot ALIVE & now a hostage is killed by an airstrike? Sure! Sick!" Judeh said on Twitter, referring to previous atrocities apparently committed on camera by ISIS fighters.
The ISIS statement appeared to contain some discrepancies, including Thursday’s date on accompanying pictures purportedly showing the building that was struck, while the statement claimed the strikes occurred during Friday prayers. ISIS also claimed Mueller was the only person killed in that particular airstrike, with none of its fighters injured or killed.
Officials believe ISIS has misled the public before about the fate of hostages. The Jordanian government said ISIS killed a Jordanian pilot the terror group was holding a month ago, even though the terror group pretended he was alive during hostages negotiations last week.
Mueller, from Prescott, Ariz., was kidnapped Aug. 4 after leaving a Spanish Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, according to information provided by a family spokesperson.
She had graduated from Northern Arizona University in 2009 and “has devoted her career to helping those in need in countries around the world,” the family spokesperson said.
Mueller told her town's local newspaper, The Daily Courier, she felt called to help those suffering the most in the midst of the Syrian conflict.
“For as long as I live, I will not let this suffering be normal,” she said in the May 2013 report. “[I will not let this be] something we just accept… It’s important to stop and realize what we have, why we have it and how privileged we are. And from that place, start caring and get a lot done.”
ABC News' Nadine Shubailat contributed to this report.
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