almotamar.net - A US journalist and a South African citizen held by al-Qaeda in Yemen were killed during a rescue attempt by US and Yemeni forces, the Supreme Security Committee (SSC) said on Saturday.

A security crackdown was carried out by Yemeni Counter-terrorism forces in coordination with U.S. forces to free the two hostages who were held at the terrorist Saeed al-Daghari's house in Abadan village in Shabwa province, an official source at the SSC told Saba.

The security crackdown asked at first the terrorist elements to surrender themselves and release the hostages, but they refused to do so and immediately proceeded to shoot the hostages to kill them, the source explained.

This move by the terrorists forced the security forces to attack the house, the source said, noting that the two hostages were moved from the scene for treatment but they died later from their wounds.

The source confirmed that the deceased American journalist is the same journalist who al-Qaeda has announced earlier it will execute him hours after that announcement.

The rescue operation resulted in killing of the captors and injuring four of the security troops, the source added.