The ISIL militant group in Syria is reportedly demanding a $6.6 million ransom for releasding a 26-year-old American woman.
The woman, whose identity is being kept secret at her family’s request for fears of her safety, was captured in Syria last year while doing humanitarian aid work, the Associated Press reported.
A close friend of the hostage's family released the details of the ISIL ransom demand and her abduction in a statement to ABC News.
The 26-year-old woman is the third American known to have been kidnapped by the Takfiri terrorist group.
The Takfiris have recently threatened to kill American hostages unless the US stops bombing their positions on Mount Sinjar and Kurdish capital of Erbil.
Last week, a grisly video uploaded on YouTube and later confirmed as "authentic" by the White House showed an ISIL militant executing American journalist James Foley in retaliation for US airstrikes in Iraq.
The ISIL terrorist group had originally demanded the United States to provide a ransom of $100 million before decapitating Foley, but the US refused to pay, according to The New York Times.
ISIL has threatened to kill yet another American hostage, Steven J. Sotloff, a freelance journalist for Time magazine, if its demands are not met.
“The life of this American citizen, Obama, depends on your next decision,” the ISIL militant is seen in the video after beheading Foley, as he is holding Sotloff with his hands cuffed behind his back in the same landscape.
American freelance journalist Theo Curtis held hostage in Syria by al-Qaeda militant group al-Nusra Front for two years was released and handed over to UN peacekeeping forces on August 24.
US Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed the release of Curtis, adding the White House is using "every diplomatic, intelligence and military tool" to free other Americans in militant captivity in Syria.
Several European countries have funneled large sums of money to ISIL to bring captured citizens home safely.
AN/AGB
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2014/08/27/376706/isil-demands-66mn-ransom-for-us-woman/