White House confirms death of American woman held by ISIS

Kayla Mueller
(Image credit: Twitter.com/CNN Breaking News)

President Obama on Tuesday confirmed that Kayla Jean Mueller, the last known American hostage held by ISIS, had been killed.

"ISIL is a hateful and abhorrent group whose actions stand in stark contrast to the spirit of people like Kayla," Obama said in a statement.

The president did not say whether American intelligence knew when or how Mueller, who had been aiding Syrian refugees at the time of her capture, was killed. ISIS last week claimed a Jordanian airstrike killed Mueller, though the U.S. and Jordan disputed the claim.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
Explore More
Jon Terbush

Jon Terbush is an associate editor at TheWeek.com covering politics, sports, and other things he finds interesting. He has previously written for Talking Points Memo, Raw Story, and Business Insider.