(Previous Incident Code: YEM178 )

A night raid by US special forces mission failed to free two hostages from AQAP. Both hostages were reported killed by their captors while US soldiers attacked the house where they were being held. Eleven others were killed in the attack including a woman and 10-year old child.

There are differing narratives of exactly what happened but by the end 13 people were reported dead, including the two hostages who died of their injuries.

Photojournalist Luke Somers, 33, was a UK-born US citizen. He was being held hostage with South African teacher Pierre Korkie, 56, in southeastern Shabwa province. Somers was the target of the US rescue mission on November 25 however both he and Korkie were moved before US and Yemeni special forces could get to them.

The raid reportedly unfolded after midnight on December 6. US military sources said around 40 US special forces were inesrted into Shabwa province about 9 miles from where the hostages were held. They attempted a rescue but lost the element of surprise and during a firefight both of the hostages were reportedly shot by an AQAP fighter.

However an influential tribal chief, an unnamed eye witness and an anonymous Yemeni security official described a much larger attack. The security official said jets, helicopters and drones supported US and Yemeni ground forces in an assault on the village where the hostages were held. Tarek al Daghari, the leader of the influential al Awlaki tribe in Shabwa, told online publication Middle East Eye:

“Some of the villagers were awakened by the explosions, they looked out of their windows and the Americans shot them dead. They [the American and Yemeni soldiers] shot anyone who was close to the house that the hostages were in and raided at least four homes.”

Al Daghari said four houses belonging to a local family were targeted. One house belonged to Sheikh Mubarak al Daghari, 24, an alleged AQAP member responsible for the kidnapping. Abu Bakr Saleh al-Dahgari witnessed the raid said he did not know the hostages were in a home in the village.

Somers was kidnapped by AQAP in September 2013 from Sanaa. He was a freelance photojournalist working for local and international media from Yemen’s capital. The US tried to rescue him on November 26 but AQAP moved Somers before the US commandoes arrived. The group released a statement after that raid threatening to kill Somers, warning “Obama and the American government of the consequences of proceeding ahead in any other foolish action.”

Somers’ family said they were kept in the dark about the raid, telling The Times they found out Somers had been killed from the FBI.

Korkie and his wife Yolande were kidnapped from the streets of Taiz in May 2013. Yolande was released without a ransome paid in January 2014 after negotiations by Gift of the Givers, a South African charity with an office in Yemen.

Gift of the Givers said it had succesfully negotiated an agreement with AQAP to release Pierre Korkie. He was reportedly due to be freed on December 7. The charity said it had agreed to pay $200,000 “facillitation fee” for his release. AQAP had orignially asked for $3m but had reportedly agreed to cut this when it was made clear that Korkie’s family could not afford this.

The sum was cut to $700,000 in October, the New York Times reported. It was reduced further after tribal negotiators traveling to meet with AQAP were killed in a US drone strike. AQAP reportedly promised to split the money with the families of the dead negotiators. It is not clear which drone strike killed the men however an attack in Shabwa province on November 12 is geographically most likely.

Imtiaz Sooliman, the charity’s founder, said he did not blame the US for Korkie’s death. And the Korkie family spokesman told Reuters: “There is no accusation towards anybody. Mrs Korkie is not in a position to say they [US] were wrong… Mrs Korkie, as a Christian, applies the biblical principle of forgiving… even for his captors.”

The Yemen government was aware of the negotiations to release Korkie, according to Sooliman: “At ` times, the Yemeni government was informed about our actions on the ground,” Sooliman told the Associated Press. “We didn’t do anything in isolation from them.”

The US said it knew nothing of the negotiations, or that Korkie was even present in the house with Somers. However an unnamed senior Yemeni intelligence official told the Associated Press that Yemeni authorities knew about negotiations and an “exchange of information” about the hostage took place two weeks ago in the presence of US officials.