US female hostage held by Isil is dead, confirms Obama
Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker who was held by Islamic State jihadists in Syria, is dead, says Barack Obama in statement
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Kayla Mueller speaking to the Prescott
Kiwanis Club about the situation in Syria and efforts to build a second
camp for Syrian refugees in Turkey, in Prescott, Arizona Photo: EPA
4:56PM GMT 10 Feb 2015
Kayla Mueller, the aid worker from Arizona who was held hostage by the Islamic
State, has been killed, the White House confirmed on Tuesday.
The confirmation came four days after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
(Isil) announced that 26-year-old Miss Mueller had been killed in a
Jordanian air-strike ordered in reprisal for the burning to death of a
captured fighter pilot.
Kayla Mueller, pictured with her mother Marsha Mueller (Reuters)
Miss Mueller’s parents, Carl and Marsha, had said last weekend that they still
held out hope their daughter was alive, but that hope expired on Tuesday
morning. Officials were unable to immediately confirm the cause of her
death.
“Over the weekend a private message was received from Kayla’s Isil captors
containing additional information,” said the US National Security Council in
statement, “Once this was authenticated by the intelligence community they
concluded that Kayla was deceased.”
“We are heartbroken to share that we've received confirmation that Kayla Jean
Mueller, has lost her life,” her parents said in a short statement. “Kayla
was a compassionate and devoted humanitarian. She dedicated the whole of her
young life to helping those in need of freedom, justice, and peace.”
In a newly released letter home written in captivity last November, Miss
Mueller said that she was being well-treated, had even put on weight but
could only write a paragraph a day because “just the thought of you all
sends me into fits of tears”.
Saying that she had surrendered herself to God to enable her to be free even in captivity, Miss Mueller reassured her parents that “I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down. And I will not give in no matter how long it takes.”
She concluded by looking forward to a reunion that was to never take place. “The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. … Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I and by God’s will we will be together soon.”
President Barack Obama confirmed the death with “profound sadness” while eulogising Miss Mueller for her humanitarian work first at an HIV/Aids shelter in her home town of Prescott, Arizona and later on the Turkish-Syrian border providing help and comfort to refugees from Syria’s bloody civil war.
She was taken into captivity in August 2013 while leaving a hospital in Syria, becoming the only female hostage held by the group.
Kayla Mueller with her father Carl Mueller
“Kayla’s compassion and dedication to assisting those in need shows us that even amongst unconscionable evil, the essential decency of humanity can live on,” Mr Obama said in tribute to a young American who he said had worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others.
He also vowed to hunt down those responsible for death, promising that “no matter how long it takes” the US would work to bring to justice those responsible, calling Isil a “hateful and abhorrent” group.
“On this day, we take comfort in the fact that the future belongs not to those who destroy, but rather to the irrepressible force of human goodness that Kayla Mueller shall forever represent,” he concluded.
Prime Minister David Cameron was "deeply saddened" to hear confirmation that Miss Mueller has been killed, and said that it is the terror group alone which bears responsibility for Kayla's death.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister is deeply saddened by the news. Our thoughts are with her friends and family as they deal with this tragic news.
"The Prime Minister is absolutely clear that those responsible for her death are the brutal Isil terrorists that kidnapped her and tormented her in her captivity.
"As the Americans have said we will do all we can to bring those responsible for her death to account."
Carol Thompson, a former professor of Miss Mueller, also paid tribute to her former student.
“I hope her death and the death of the other hostages will unite the world to stop this cycle of violence and vengeance,” she told CNN, quoting a letter written by Miss Mueller to her parents saying that she had “found God” in the suffering of others.
“Kayla always was teaching me, she was my professor in teaching me that we extend humanity and compassion to those we understand the least. And she included those who are suffering the most.
“She was teaching me that it’s more difficult to show compassion to those with whom we disagree profoundly, but she would find God in that disagreement,” she said.
end quote from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11403385/US-female-hostage-held-by-Isil-is-dead-confirms-Obama.html
Saying that she had surrendered herself to God to enable her to be free even in captivity, Miss Mueller reassured her parents that “I have a lot of fight left inside of me. I am not breaking down. And I will not give in no matter how long it takes.”
She concluded by looking forward to a reunion that was to never take place. “The thought of your pain is the source of my own, simultaneously the hope of our reunion is the source of my strength. … Do not fear for me, continue to pray as will I and by God’s will we will be together soon.”
President Barack Obama confirmed the death with “profound sadness” while eulogising Miss Mueller for her humanitarian work first at an HIV/Aids shelter in her home town of Prescott, Arizona and later on the Turkish-Syrian border providing help and comfort to refugees from Syria’s bloody civil war.
She was taken into captivity in August 2013 while leaving a hospital in Syria, becoming the only female hostage held by the group.
Kayla Mueller with her father Carl Mueller
“Kayla’s compassion and dedication to assisting those in need shows us that even amongst unconscionable evil, the essential decency of humanity can live on,” Mr Obama said in tribute to a young American who he said had worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others.
He also vowed to hunt down those responsible for death, promising that “no matter how long it takes” the US would work to bring to justice those responsible, calling Isil a “hateful and abhorrent” group.
“On this day, we take comfort in the fact that the future belongs not to those who destroy, but rather to the irrepressible force of human goodness that Kayla Mueller shall forever represent,” he concluded.
Prime Minister David Cameron was "deeply saddened" to hear confirmation that Miss Mueller has been killed, and said that it is the terror group alone which bears responsibility for Kayla's death.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Prime Minister is deeply saddened by the news. Our thoughts are with her friends and family as they deal with this tragic news.
"The Prime Minister is absolutely clear that those responsible for her death are the brutal Isil terrorists that kidnapped her and tormented her in her captivity.
"As the Americans have said we will do all we can to bring those responsible for her death to account."
Carol Thompson, a former professor of Miss Mueller, also paid tribute to her former student.
“I hope her death and the death of the other hostages will unite the world to stop this cycle of violence and vengeance,” she told CNN, quoting a letter written by Miss Mueller to her parents saying that she had “found God” in the suffering of others.
“Kayla always was teaching me, she was my professor in teaching me that we extend humanity and compassion to those we understand the least. And she included those who are suffering the most.
“She was teaching me that it’s more difficult to show compassion to those with whom we disagree profoundly, but she would find God in that disagreement,” she said.
end quote from:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/islamic-state/11403385/US-female-hostage-held-by-Isil-is-dead-confirms-Obama.html
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