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A Canadian woman and an Italian man who were abducted 15 months ago in Burkina Faso have been released in the neighboring country of Mali, a United Nations official confirmed [...]

The Islamic State had long claimed that the hostage, Kayla Mueller, was killed in a Jordanian airstrike. WASHINGTON -- After the Islamic State declared that Kayla Mueller, a 26-year-old humanitarian [...]

HASAKA, Syria -- More than six years after he was abducted in Syria by jihadists, John Cantlie, a British journalist, is believed to be still alive, a British government official [...]

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso -- Gunmen from Al Qaeda stormed a luxury hotel frequented by foreigners in Burkina Faso's capital on Friday night, seizing hostages and killing others while fighting with [...]

Byline: MAIA DE LA BAUME and RUKMINI CALLIMACHI PARIS -- A Dutch citizen held captive in the Sahara for more than three years by the North African branch of Al [...]

Byline: ISMA'IL KUSHKUSH and RUKMINI CALLIMACHI NAIROBI, Kenya -- Gunmen attacked a university campus in eastern Kenya early Thursday, clashing with guards, forcing their way into dormitories and taking hostages, [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and ERIC SCHMITT For one tortured weekend, the parents of Kayla Mueller refused to believe that their daughter was dead. From their home in Prescott, Ariz., they [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and HELENE COOPER The parents of Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker abducted in 2013 by the Islamic State, issued a statement on Tuesday confirming her death, [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI GAZIANTEP, Turkey -- For a fleeting moment last year, Louai Abo Aljoud, a Syrian journalist, made eye contact with the American hostages being held by the Islamic [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI ISTANBUL -- Nearly a decade ago, Ayman al- Zawahiri - the man who would go on to become the head of Al Qaeda - wrote a letter [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI GAZIANTEP, Turkey -- The Islamic State released a video on Sunday showing a black-clad executioner standing over the severed head of what the group claims is an [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The hostages were taken out of their cell one by one. In a private room, their captors asked each of them three intimate questions, a standard technique [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The email appeared in Michael Foley's inbox a year after his brother James disappeared on a reporting trip in northern Syria. It made clear that the people [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI The mother of an American hostage being held by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has released an emotional video appeal to his captors. Shirley Sotloff, [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI Held for nearly two years in a prison run by an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Syria, an American freelance writer has been unexpectedly freed, following extensive [...]

Byline: RUKMINI CALLIMACHI and SCOTT SHANE An American journalist held captive for nearly two years by Al Qaeda's official branch in Syria has been freed, according to a report on [...]

The article examines the U.S. government's policy regarding hostage situations, focusing on how the refusal to pay ransoms often leaves few other options for rescue missions. Particular attention is given to the government's response to Americans taken hostage by the militant organization ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria), citing official statements suggesting that paying ransoms would only encourage more kidnapping. Comments from former ISIS hostage Louai Abo Aljoud are included.

The article discusses the treatment of Western hostages captured by the Islamic State (ISIS) extremist organization in Syria. Topics addressed include the captivity and beheading of American journalist James Foley, the interrogation and torture of captives by ISIS, and hostages' conversion to Islam in captivity. Other topics include the waterboarding against hostages and a lack of ransom payments for American and British hostages.

The article focuses on the search for New Zealand nurse and midwife Louisa Akavi who was abducted in late 2013 in the Syrian city of Idlib. Topics covered include the strict media blackout implemented by her employer and the New Zealand government for more than five years, reported sightings of Akavi from 2016 to 2018, and negotiations between the Red Cross and ISIS on her supposed release.

The article reports that Johan Gustafsson, a 36-year-old engineer who was held for ransom by the Islamist militant group Al Qaeda in Sahara, has narrated his almost six-year ordeal under the Islamist group including the decision to convert to Islam.

The article discusses the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) terrorist organization's claims that a Jordanian airstrike in Syria, intended to avenge ISIS' killing of a Jordanian hostage, was responsible for killing American aid worker and ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller. Topics addressed include Mueller's abduction after traveling to a compound run by the aid group Doctors Without Borders (Médicos Sin Fronteras or M.S.F.), as well as ISIS ransom demands and negotiations for Mueller's release.

The article discusses A U.S. Navy SEAL raid on the Yemeni affiliate of Islamic extremist organization Al Qaeda, noting that South African hostage Pierre Korkie was killed during the raid despite Al Qaeda's agreement to release Korkie in return for a ransom. Topics addressed include assurances to Korkie's wife, Yolande Korkie, that her husband would be freed, as well as the U.S. government's lack of awareness that Korkie was about to be freed prior to the raid.

The article discusses U.S. president Barack Obama's confirmation and condemnation of the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) extremist organization's beheading of Abdul-Rahman (Peter) Kassig, an American aid worker who was working in Syria. Topics addressed include differences between the video footage of Kassig's beheading and videos of ISIS's previous beheadings of Westerners, as well as Kassig's work aiding refugees of the Syrian Civil War.

The article discusses the U.S. government's policy of not paying ransoms for hostages, focusing on a lack of active government support for the family of James Foley, an American journalist captured and eventually executed by extremist organization the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Topics addressed include differences between U.S. policy and many European countries' policies of paying ransoms to terrorists, as well as the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation's (F.B.I.) handling of Foley's case.

The article discusses a video released by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) extremist organization that shows the beheading of British aid worker David Cawthorne Haines, who had been taken hostage by ISIS. Topics addressed include British prime minister David Cameron's reaction to the video, U.S. and British policy on combating ISIS, and ISIS' threats to execute more hostages.

The article discusses the release of American journalist and hostage Peter Theo Curtis by Islamic extremist organization the Nusra Front, an affiliate of extremist organization Al Qaeda. Topics addressed include the role of the Qatari government in negotiating Curtis's release, U.S. policy of not paying ransoms for hostages, and the death of American journalist and hostage James Foley.

The article reports on the announcement of Al Mourabitoun, a militant group in the Sahara, on holding a Romanian hostage who is a former security guard at a manganese mine in Burkina Faso.

The article offers information on the move of the Islamic State's militant group to issue a new installment in its lecture series delivered by John Cantlie, the British hostage.

The article reports on the return of American writer and freelance journalist Peter Theo Curtis who was captured by official branch of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in the U.S. on August 26, 2014.

The article reports on the gunman identified as Radouane Lakdim who killed three people and hold hostages at a supermarket in Trèbes, southwest France on March 23, 2018.

The article discusses the accidental killing of hostages held by the Al Qaeda terrorist organization during a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) drone strike on Al Qaeda operatives in Pakistan. Topics addressed include initial evidence of the C.I.A.'s mistake, surveillance and other planning leading up to the strike, and the notification of the family of American hostage Warren Weinstein.

The article discusses the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization's killing of Moaz al-Kasasbeh, a Jordanian pilot who was taken hostage by ISIS. Topics addressed include Jordan's execution of terrorist suspect Sajida al-Rishawi and Ziad al-Karbouli, a liteuteneta in the Al Qaeda terrorist organization, as well as remembrances of al-Kasasbeh by friends and family.

The article discusses a U.S. Navy SEAL Team 6 raid against the Yemeni affiliate of the Al Qaeda Islamic extremist organization aimed at rescuing hostages Luke Somers and Pierre Korkie, noting that Somers and Korkie were killed during the raid. Topics addressed include obstacles facing the SEAL commandos attempting to breach the compound in which the hostages were held, as well as Al Qaeda's threats to kill Somers unless certain demands were met by the day in which the raid took place.

The article discusses extremist organization the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)'s release of a video showing the beheading of American journalist Steven J. Sotloff, who had been held as a hostage by ISIS. Topics addressed include ISIS's claim that the murder was in response to U.S. president Barack Obama's authorization of U.S. airstrikes against ISIS in Iraq, uncertainty over when the killing occurred, and the possibility that Obama could authorize U.S. airstrikes in Syria.

The article discusses the accidental killing of hostages Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto during a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (C.I.A.) drone strike against operatives fro m the Al Qaeda terrorist organization in Pakistan. Topics addressed include U.S. president Barack Obama's apology for the C.I.A.'s mistake, criticisms of the Obama administration's policy on the use of drones against Americans.

The article reports on a video released by the Islamic State, an Islamist rebel group, which shows journalist Kenji Goto, one of the hostages, holding a photograph of the decapitated body of another hostage Haruna Yukawa.