In nearly two days of reporting on a failed rescue attempt by U.S. Navy Seals in a remote region of Yemen, much attention has understandably been paid to the two western hostages—American journalist Luke Somers and South African educator Pierre Korkie—who lost their lives when things went wrong, but scant attention has been given or concern shown for the so-far nameless Yemeni civilians who also died during the botched mission.
Though the New York Times reported that “eight civilians were also killed in the raid” and Reuters indicated that perhaps ten civilians were killed—”including a woman” and “a 10-year-old boy”—little has been conveyed about how these individuals were caught up in the fighting or whether or not the Pentagon will take any responsibility for their deaths.
The Pentagon acknowledged that it launched the raid in order to free Somers from his captors, but said it was unaware that Korkie was also being held at the same location or that his negotiated release was just hours from being fulfilled.
Various U.S. officials have expressed regret for the death of the two hostages, yet no apology for the Yemeni citizens killed has been reported.
According to Agence France-Presse on Monday, local tribal members may now seek compensation for the innocent victims of the raid, which they believe included Yemeni soldiers in addition to the U.S. special forces. AFP reports:
In another disturbing detail of the case related to negotiations underway to free Mr. Korkie, the New York Times reports how the charity for which he worked, Gift of the Givers, had arranged for local tribal members to meet with his captors to bring down the amount of money demanded for his release. After an initial meeting showed progress (whittling the ransom from $3 million down to $700,000), a subsequent meeting was scheduled but ultimately never took place. Citing Imtiaz Sooliman, the director of the aid group, the Times reports just weeks ago, when the “tribal leaders went back to meet with Qaeda members,” the car they were traveling in “was hit by a drone strike, killing the mediators.”
Though Mr. Sooliman said the drone attack and resulting deaths of the tribal negotiators made him think the efforts to get Mr. Korkie were over, Korkie’s captors reportedly took a different view of the events. As the Times continues:
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Between destroying one diplomatic effort to gain a hostage’s freedom with a drone strike and killing at least several Yemeni civilians during the failed rescue attempt of another, the U.S. military may not have enough apologies to go around when it comes to recent behavior inside Yemen.
The most ground-level reporting so far of details concerning Saturday’s raid come from independent journalist Iona Craig, who on Monday filed a report for the The Australian which read, in part:
In a separate tweet responding to Pentagon claims that the U.S. was unaware of the situation regarding Korkie, Craig pushed back: