Yet another terrorist group has released video of an American hostage, identified as Luke Somers, threatening to end his life if its demands are not met. The video, released overnight by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, features the 33-year-old photojournalist, who was kidnapped in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa in 2013, while working for a local paper. U.S. forces had attempted to free Somers and other hostages just last week.
In a slightly less flashy than ISIS video, an Arabic-speaking man with a reddish-tinted beard talks about American interference in the Muslim world. Identified as Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, an AQAP leader, the man says that the U.S. must meet the group’s demands, or else Somers will meet “his inevitable fate.” He doesn’t list the demands, but implies that the U.S. government is familiar with them.
Afterwards, the screen shifts to a video of Somers, wearing a purple button-down shirt — quite unlike the orange prisonwear worn by ISIS captives. “It’s now been well over a year since I’ve been kidnapped in Sanaa,” he says. “Basically, I’m looking for any help that can get me out of this situation. I’m certain that my life is in danger. So as I sit here now, I ask if anything can be done, please, let it be done. Thank you very much.”
During a raid on AQIP in Yemen last week, American forces freed eight hostages, including a Saudi national. By that point, however, Somers and a British hostage had already been moved to a different location.
