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Penn State Erie Lockdown: 5 Fast Facts You Need to KnowKayla Jean Mueller: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
ISIS is claiming that U.S. female aid worker Kayla Jean Mueller is dead following a Jordanian air strike in Syria. She was 26 years old. The claim is being investigated by the CIA. According to ISIS, she was killed on February 6 during prayers at noon. The group said Jordanian planes had been bombarding the area for over an hour.
Here’s what we know so far:
1. She Was the Last American Hostage Held by ISIS
It had long been known that ISIS had a female U.S. aid worker in captivity. CBS News reported in August 2014 that ISIS had demanded a ransom of $6.6 million for her. She was being held in Syria. Mueller was captured there in August 2013 with a group of other aid workers. Those other captives have since been released. The Washington Post reports that she had been working with Spanish Doctors Without Borders in Aleppo when she was taken. She had been in that area since late-2012. Mueller had been with her boyfriend who is Syrian. A few months after her captivity, her colleagues received an email proof-of-life showing her in a hijba, begging for her life, reports the New York Times.
ISIS has a track-record of lying about hostage deaths. On February 6, a video showing the execution of a Jordanian pilot was released. The video was dated from early January. Despite this, the group had been negotiating for his release in exchange for a failed suicide bomber, Sajida al-Rishawi. The day after Kasasbeh’s execution video was uploaded, al-Rishawi was hanged by the Jordanian government. Jordan’s Interior Minister Hussein Majali said “[ISIS] tried to cause problems internally in Jordan and haven’t succeeded. They are now trying to drive a wedge between the coalition with this latest low PR stunt.”
Anwar Tarawneh: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know
The
widow of the Jordanian pilot burned alive in a cage by ISIS has spoken
for the first time of her heartbreak - and how she learned of his death
on Facebook.
Click here to read more2. She Dedicated Her Life to Helping Others Since Age 15
She’s a native of Prescott, Arizona. Her parents are Carl and Marsha Mueller. The Daily Courier in Prescott reported on her enrolling at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff in 2007.
This is ISIS’ statement claiming Mueller was killed in a Jordanian airstrike, according to jihadism researcher Charlie Winter. (Twitter/@charliewinter)
The Failed Jordanian Aircraft Killed an American Female HostageIt stated that she was interested in the Darfur crisis. She told the paper at the time “I love cultures and language and learning about people’s cultures.” For most of her high school years she was a member of the Save Darfur Coalition, which lobbied members of Congress. The Courier article noted that she wanted to continue her volunteer work. The Washington Post reports that when she graduated from college in 2009, she worked in India, teaching at an orphanage. In 2011, she returned home to Arizona where she worked at an HIV/AIDS clinic. Later in 2011, she went to France to learn French in the hope of working in Africa. She later decided against that plan and went to help in the Middle East.
The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombarded a site outside the city of ar-Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing the Friday prayer. The air assaults were continuous on the same location for more than an hour.
Allah made their pursuit disappointed and deterred their cunning, and no mujahid was injured in the bombardment, and all praise is due to Allah.
It was confirmed to us the killing of an American female hostage by fire of the shells dropped on the site, and she is Kayla Jean Mueller.
3. She Once Helped Reunite a Syrian Family Separated by the Civil War
The Daily Courier reports
that she worked for the group Support to Life in Turkey. The group
offers support and relief to refugees from the Syrian Civil War. You can
watch a video of Mueller talking about her solidarity with the Syrian
people above. Speaking to the Kiwanis Club in Prescott, Arizona,
where her father Carl is a member, in May 2013 during a brief visit
home from Syria, she talked about how she reunited a Syrian family. She
told the group about how a man came to her as he was looking for his
6-year-old boy and wife, the wife had been killed but the man was able
to find his son. She said during her speech in May 2013 that, “When
Syrians hear I’m an American, they ask, ‘Where is the world?’ All I can
do is cry with them, because I don’t know.” 4. Jordan Has Been Raining Bombs on ISIS Since the Brutal Execution of Its Pilot
(Getty)
Thousands
of Jordanians participate in a mass demonstration after Friday prayers
near Al Hussein Mosque to express their solidarity with the pilot
murdered by ISIS. (Getty)
5. She Is the Fourth American to Die in ISIS Captivity Since August 2014
The flag of ISIS.
is Heavy's breaking news editor. He's from Ireland and lives in Brooklyn. Reach him at Paul@heavy.com.
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