US, South African hostages 'murdered' during failed rescue attempt in Yemen

American hostage Luke Somers died during a joint rescue mission by the U.S. and Yemen Saturday morning.
Somers was still alive, but badly injured when U.S. Special Forces reached him in the rescue mission, a Yemeni national security official told Fox News. The official also said it was Al Qaeda militants who shot Somers
Somers would die later as he was being transported away for medical treatment.
Ten militants were killed between the rescue attempt and the drone strike prior to the mission, the Yemeni official confirmed.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said in a statement that Somers and a non-U.S. hostage were "murdered by the AQAP during the course of the operation."
South African hostage Pierre Korkie was the other hostage killed in the operation, the Gift of the Givers, a South African aid group confirmed.
President Obama released a statement early Saturday morning condemning the "barbaric murder" of Somers by the Al Qaeda terrorists.
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," Obama said. "And terrorists who seek to harm our citizens will feel the long arm of American justice."
Obama also said he authorized the mission because the U.S. had information that Somers' life was in imminent danger.
A Yemen top security official said Somers was set to die Saturday at the hands of Al Qaeda militants.
Obama, Hagel and Secretary of State John Kerry all expressed their condolences to Somers' family.
The sister of Luke Somers first learned of her brother's death from FBI agents. Lucy Somers told the Associated Press her family asks for peace.
Yemen's local Al Qaeda branch, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, posted a video Thursday that showed Somers, threatening to kill him in three days if the United States didn't meet the group's demands, which weren't specified.
The news of the failed rescue comes after a U.S. drone strike in Yemen that numerous alleged Al Qaeda militants early Saturday, a security official said. The drone struck at dawn in Yemen's southern Shabwa province, hitting a suspected militant hideout, the official said.
At least six suspected militants were killed in an airstrike in the same province last month. Later Saturday, tribal leaders said they saw helicopters flying over an area called Wadi Abdan in Shabwa province.
In a video Saturday, Lucy Somers and her father pleaded for the group to let Luke Somers live.
In a statement Thursday, Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby acknowledged for the first time that a mysterious U.S. raid last month had sought to rescue Somers but that he turned out not to be at the site.
The U.S. considers Yemen's Al Qaeda branch to be the world's most dangerous arm of the group as it has been linked to several failed attacks on the U.S. homeland.
Somers was kidnapped in 2013 leaving a supermarket in Yemen. He was working as a freelance photographer for the Yemen Times at the time.