Amman: Militant outfit Islamic State (IS) yesterday claimed that Jordan's retaliatory air strikes following the execution of its pilot have killed an American aid worker held hostage by the jihadi group.
The online post by the IS said that the female US hostage, 26-year-old Kayla Mueller, was killed in Jordanian airstrikes on the Syrian city of Raqqa -- stronghold of IS.
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The post showed a picture of a collapsed building that the IS claimed the woman was being held in. It did not show the hostage or provide any proof of her death.
The US State Department, however, said that it has not seen any evidence to corroborate the IS group's report. Spokeswoman Marie Harf said that she can't confirm the reports, but the government was ‘putting every effort behind finding any Americans being held overseas'.
If the death is confirmed, she would be the fourth American to die while being held by Islamic State militants. Three other Americans - journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, and aid worker Peter Kassig - were beheaded by the group.
Meanwhile, Jordanian Interior Minister Hussein Majali trashed the IS claim calling it ‘another PR stunt by militants'.
"They 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," Majali said.
The IS jihadis are known to have held a number of people from the US, Britain and Japan hostage.
Currently, at least two people from the West are thought to be in the militants' custody -- British journalist John Cantlie, who has appeared in a number of IS videos, and Mueller.
The gruesome execution of Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh by the IS, the video of which was released on Tuesday, drew widespread condemnation, from even within the Arab world.
Jordan executed two jihadi prisoners in retaliation on Wednesday and launched airstrikes against several IS targets in Syria on Thursday.
