This is an undated photo provided by the Korkie family of South African Pierre Korkie.(Photo: AP)
U.S. officials were unaware that a deal had been struck to free a South African hostage before U.S. special forces led a raid on al-Qaeda militants aimed a freeing a U.S. hostage, the American Embassy in Pretoria said Monday.
Both hostages died in Saturday's rescue attempt in Yemen.
The U.S. Embassy in Pretoria issued a statement that "reiterates our profound condolences to the family of Pierre Korkie, and to all South Africans who have lost this exemplary fellow citizen." But it adds that the U.S. did not know that Korkie was being held with U.S. hostage Luke Somers.
Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of South African humanitarian relief group Gift of the Givers, said Korkie was to be released Sunday.
The U.S. Embassy said President Obama made the "difficult leadership decision" to approve a rescue plan for Somers after it became clear his life was under "imminent threat."
"The United States was not aware of the progress of the negotiations between the Gift of the Givers and the Yemeni hostage takers, nor of a promise for Pierre Korkie's release," the statement said. "We moved with the information available in an attempt to save lives, and that rescue operation unexpectedly ended in the deaths of both Pierre Korki and Luke Somers. We join South Africa in mourning the loss of these lives in Yemen this weekend."
Somers, 33, a British-born American photojournalist, had been held by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula since his abduction in Yemen's capital of Sanaa in September 2013. His stepmother, Penny Bearman, on Monday expressed anger at the rescue attempt, saying previous death threats had not been carried out.
"We are sure Luke would have given support to the ongoing discussions (to secure his release) in Yemen rather than the conflict approach," she told the British paper, The Times. Bearman said the family did not know about the rescue attempt in advance.
Korkie was a teacher abducted in Yemen in May 2013 with his wife, Yolande Korkie. She was released in January.
"The psychological and emotional devastation to Yolande and her family will be compounded by the knowledge that Pierre was to be released (Dec. 7) by al-Qaeda," Sooliman said. He said a team of negotiators had been working out security details of the release, and his group had told Yolande Yorkie that "Pierre will be home for Christmas. We certainly did not mean it in the manner it has unfolded."
Yemen's national security chief, Maj. Gen. Ali al-Ahmadi, said the militants had planned to kill Somers on Saturday. That day, helicopters dropped U.S. commandos about a mile from the village where Somers was being held, according to a senior Defense Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
The commandos killed all the terrorists and no U.S. forces were wounded, the official said.
Obama said he authorized the rescue attempt because of information the U.S. had that Somers' life was in immediate danger, including a video released by his captors Thursday that said the journalist would be killed within 72 hours.
Last month, U.S. and Yemeni forces conducted a raid in an attempt to free Somers. Eight other hostages were freed in a remote corner of Yemen's Hadramawt province, but Somers had been moved prior to the rescue attempt.
"As this and previous hostage rescue operations demonstrate, the United States will spare no effort to use all of its military, intelligence and diplomatic capabilities to bring Americans home safely, wherever they are located. And terrorists who seek to harm our citizens will feel the long arm of American justice," Obama said in a statement.
Contributing: Tom Vanden Brook
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