FBI agents searching for American hostages testing remains found in Syria
The FBI is using DNA testing to determine if remains found in Syria are those of American hostages killed while held captive by the Islamic State, ABC News reports.
Two ISIS guards, Alexanda Kotey and El Shafee Elsheikh, led U.S. officials to the remains. It could take several months for the results to come back, and one official told ABC News they had "zero idea who they were." At least four American hostages were killed while in ISIS captivity: journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff and aid workers Abdul-Rahman (Peter) Kassig and Kayla Mueller. ISIS also killed hostages from several other countries, as well as countless Syrians.
Kotey and Elsheikh were captured in January by Kurdish fighters, and it's unclear where they will end up. Both Londoners, they were two members of a foursome called "The Beatles" by some hostages, due to their accents. In a recent New York Times op-ed, the families of American hostages killed by ISIS wrote that they want to see the men prosecuted and sentenced to life in prison.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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