Mueller hostage in failed rescue

An attempt to rescue Kayla Mueller and other American hostages occurred in a July 4 raid previously disclosed by the Pentagon.

U.S. special forces commandos conducted a raid in the predawn hours on a prison in Islamic State’s Syrian stronghold of Raqqa.

But the mission was unsuccessful because hostages – which included Mueller as well as American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff – had already been moved and weren’t there at the time.

“We never stopped trying to get her,” said a defense official. “We never lost that focus.”

Relatives of Mueller, who was abducted while volunteering in Syria, announced Tuesday that they had received confirmation that she is dead.

The Islamic State group released a video last week claiming that Mueller, 26, was killed in an air attack by coalition forces against the militants in Syria.

U.S. intelligence officials believe that Mueller is dead but don’t accept the militants’ account of how she was killed.

Los Angeles Times