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White House: American woman still being held hostage by ISIS

ISIS is demanding $6.6 million or a prisoner-swap for her safe release.

By Brooks Hays
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the beheading of Japanese aid worker Haruna Yukawa. Pool Photo by Mohamad Torokman/ UPI.
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe condemned the beheading of Japanese aid worker Haruna Yukawa. Pool Photo by Mohamad Torokman/ UPI. | License Photo

WASHINGTON, Jan. 25 (UPI) -- A White House spokesman confirmed on Sunday that a woman from the United States remains a hostage of the Islamic State, and that the administration is working aggressively to free any and all captives.

"We are sparing no expense and sparing no effort, both in trying to make sure that we know where they are and make sure that we're prepared to do anything we must to try to get them home," White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

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This weekend, the terrorist organization which controls parts of Syria and Iraq announced that it had executed aid worker Haruna Yukawa, one of two Japanese captives. ISIS posted a picture of freelance journalist Kenji Goto holding a photo of his beheaded compatriot.

As the White House confirmed Sunday, an unnamed 26-year-old American woman remains under the control of IS. She has been held by the terrorist group for nearly two years, taken in April of 2013 while serving on a humanitarian mission in the region.

IS is demanding $6.6 million or a prisoner swap for her safe release. The group has called on the U.S. to release Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted in 2010 of the attempted murder of an United States Army Captain. The group is demanding a similar prisoner swap for Goto's release.

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Over the last several months, IS has executed a handful of Western captives, including U.S. aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig, as well as American journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff. More recently, the terrorist outfit beheaded British humanitarian aid volunteers Alan Henning and David Haines.

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