Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The United States has failed in consecutive hostage rescue operations in Yemen.

The administration of President Barack Obama acknowledged that the target of at least two U.S. hostage rescue operations was killed during a commando raid against Al Qaida in southeastern Yemen.

The administration confirmed that journalist Luke Somers as well as a South African hostage were killed during the last joint U.S.-Yemen operation on Dec. 5.

“The United States strongly condemns the barbaric murder of Luke Somers at the hands of Al Qaida terrorists during a rescue operation,” Obama said.

The presidential statement on Dec. 6 capped several days of reports on the U.S.-Yemen hostage rescue bid. Two days earlier, the Defense Department said the 33-year-old Somers, abducted by Al Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula in September 2013, was not found by the joint team during a raid of a cave in the Yemeni province of Hadramaut on Nov. 25.

“He was not present at the targeted location,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said. “Some hostages were rescued.”

But other officials said the U.S. intelligence community traced Somers to a cave in Hadramaut around Nov. 17, Middle East Newsline reported. They said that several days later Obama approved a rescue operation, and on Nov. 25 a joint U.S.-Yemeni commando team stormed the cave and found eight hostages but not Somers.

“We should have approved this in a matter of hours rather than days,” an official said.

On Dec. 5, the joint U.S.-Yemeni team conducted another rescue attempt of Somers, threatened with imminent execution by AQAP. Officials said AQAP shot Somers and another hostage, South African teacher Pierre Korkie, when the joint command squad came within 100 meters of the hostages. They said up to 10 AQAP fighters were also killed.

“Other information also indicated that Luke’s life was in imminent danger,” Obama said on Dec. 6. “Based on this assessment, and as soon as there was reliable intelligence and an operational plan, I authorized a rescue attempt yesterday. I also authorized the rescue of any other hostages held in the same location as Luke.”

The United States has attempted several rescue operations in 2014, particularly against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant. Most of the operations were said to have failed.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the latest rescue operation took place in an undisclosed location in central Yemen. He said the rescue mission, which the Yemeni Defense Ministry asserted took place in the Wadi Abdan Al Daqqar region of the southern province of Shabwa, marked U.S. cooperation with the government of President Abbed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

“This mission, in which there will be more detail forthcoming, was extremely well-executed,” Hagel told a news conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on Dec. 6. “It was a very dangerous and complicated mission. But like always in these efforts, there is risk.”

  Administration delays called factor in latest of failed rescue ops, WorldTribune.com