Al Qaeda Vows to Kill U.S. Hostage

Al Qaeda’s Yemen affiliate Wednesday night showed on camera for the first time American hostage Luke Somers, who officials say was the objective of a U.S. rescue attempt last week. The terror group threatened to kill Somers in three days if President Obama doesn’t “meet our demands.” The 33-year-old photojournalist and interpreter was abducted in the Yemeni capital Sana’a some 14 months ago. He appears at the end of the new video and makes a 30-second statement pleading for help. “I’m looking for any help that can get me out of this situation. I’m certain that my life is in danger. So as I sit here now, I ask if anything can be done, please let it be done. Thank you very much,” Somers says. The three-minute tape begins with Nasser bin Ali al-Ansi, a senior al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula official, seated at a desk and holding a sheaf of papers that he slowly reads from. He voices a host of grievances over U.S. counterterrorism operations in Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, and Pakistan.