an american hostage has been killed. the report is being met with a great deal of skepticism. the state department here in washington says it's investigating but is not commenting further. isis claims in an online posting that the female hostage was killed by a jordanian air strike in raqqa, syria, that's an isis stronghold. again, isis offered no evidence of the death of the woman believed to be an american aid worker. isis posted pictures of a collapsed building where it says the woman was being held. we're seeing it here for the first time. is this an attempt to strike back at jordan for avenging one of the deaths of its fighter pilots. is this an attempt to weaken or splinter the u.s.-led coalition? that's what the joint interior minister is telling cnn. quote, this is another p.r. stunt by isis they tried to cause problems internally in jordan and haven't succeeded, they are now trying to drive a wedge between the coalition with this latest low p.r. stunt.

cnn's jomana karadsheh is joining us from amman, jordan, with more on the reaction to this claim. let's repeat this is a claim by isis with no confirmation no evidence that a jordanian air strike over raqqa in syria, that's an isis stronghold, wound up killing this young american woman aid worker. what else are they saying there, jomana? >>. >> reporter: well as you mentioned, wolf this is exactly what the interior minister is saying calling this a p.r. stunt and lies. there has been this feeling in jordan over the past couple of weeks that isis is trying to embarrass this country, trying to corner this u.s. ally. we saw this happen with the hostage negotiations with that situation with the japanese hostages a couple of weeks ago. and there was this feeling that jordan was being thrown into this put in a position where it was asked to release a prisoner that isis was demanding because they wanted to put jordan in that tough situation, that

difficult situation with japan, a close ally of jordan and also a major aid donor. then there was this feeling again like we're hearing now from the interior minister that they really are trying to put jordan in that position as the country is really -- as the foreign minister yesterday described it to you, they are upping the ante. they are really going after isis with these increased air strikes that we've seen over the past couple of days. and of course questions about here is it trying to drive that wedge between members of the coalition. >> a lot of analysts had suggested, jomana that when jordan decided in revenge for the brutal murder of that fighter pilot that jordan went ahead and executed hung sajida al rishawi, the known terrorist who was convicted in jordan was on death row, if you will for so many years going back to 2005 when she tried to blow herself up and kill a lot of people in amman, jordan that jordan --

that isis would subsequently seek revenge for the execution of this female terrorist by killing the american female hostage. that's what a lot of analysts were bracing for. and now isis as we've been reporting, is claiming that the jordanian air strike this latest jordanian air strike wound up killing this american female hostage. but a lot of people are staying all of that with a grain of salt. and nowhere more so than where you were in amman, right? >> reporter: absolutely. a lot of skepticism about this. and as you mentioned, wolf what people would point out here as we heard from the interior minister there was a feeling here last week that isis was trying to destabilize this country with what it was doing. of course, jordan viewed as a great enemy of isis and other extremist groups. when they put jordan in that position of releasing sajida rishawi, as you mentioned, or they say they were going to kill mu'ath al kaseasbeh, the pilot, there was this feeling that they

wanted to destabilize the country by having his tribe, of course the tribe is very important in this country, rise up against the government and blame them for what happened. of course now many analysts will tell you that this seems to have backfired at least for the time being in this country. but definitely a lot of skepticism at this point about this claim by isis and of course it's unclear how they would know that it was a jordanian fighter jet that struck these targets as they claim. >> jomana we'll get back to you. i want to go to the pentagon. barbara starr is standing by. barbara, cnn, like many other news organizations, we are not naming this american female aid worker who's being held hostage by isis. we're not giving details at the request of her family as of now. but what are you hearing over there at the pentagon? >> reporter: well wolf across washington at this hour from the white house to the pentagon to the cia, all agencies are looking at every scrap of information to see if there's

anything that can verify or corroborate about this. and right now, the official word is no there's nothing to corroborate, no proof of the isis claim. there is obviously a good deal of worry and concern about this young woman. there has been every single day that she has been held in captivity. let me stop and say what we've been talking about, we have to be very aware, her family likely watching the news coverage at this hour very compassionate towards them. they are going to be looking for answers and for right now, there simply are no answers about her fate. all of this discussion about isis motivations, what they have done what they said they will do it's fair to say, pentagon officials believe, there is no action that could dissuade isis from doing what they intend or want to do for their propaganda purposes for their belief that these videos that they come up with these propaganda messages they come up with. this is right now one of isis'

continuing strengths, their social media and propaganda campaign. they believe at least that they are gaining benefit from it so they're being more and more horrifying all the time. that remains to be seen. it did backfire on them. jordan now very much in the forefront right now of the anti-isis air campaign. other nations as well, the arab world -- across the arab world, condemnation of what isis has done. their propaganda might turn around and blow up in their face. we just simply don't know at this hour will they come out with another social media message? will they come out with proof of their claim? everyone is waiting and watching to see. >> this is a fast fast-developing story. we'll get back to you, barbara, as well. i want to point out that president obama's national security adviser, susan rice is getting ready to deliver what's being described as a major

speech here in washington at the brookings institution. there you see some live pictures coming in. she hasn't started speaking yet. she's going to be speaking on the president's new national security strategy. under the law, every year the president has to detail with what that strategy is. the white house released a very very lengthy, nearly 30-page document outlining the strategy all over the world. we'll see what she has to say ant this isis claim -- and it is only a claim -- that a jordanian air strike today wound up killing a female american hostage over raqqa in syria. once again, we'll monitor and go there live if she starts speaking about this latest development, susan rice the president's national security adviser, she's going to be delivering this speech at brookings shortly. in the meantime i want to go to our correspondent, phil black, who joins us from erbil in northern iraq right now. i assume most people who deal with isis don't believe anything

they basically say. so they're taking this obviously very skeptically. >> reporter: yeah wolf the people here in response to any outlandish act or claim by isis tend to respond with little surprise because these are the people who have very busy fighting isis every single day on the front lines. interesting to note while isis has maintained this propaganda war so fiercely its military campaign in northern iraq hasn't been going so well. last year they charged across the border claiming a lot of territory. since then kurdish fighters on the ground have done a great deal not only to stop that advance but roll back many of those territorial gains that isis had made to the point where kurdish fighters on the ground now believe they are winning this war, winning the fight against isis, they say. that does not mean that victory is imminent that isis is about

to be defeated once and for all in northern iraq. but as i say, territory has been reclaimed. isis still holds the city of mosul. that's a key territorial piece of land for isis to hold. but increasingly steadily kurdish fighters are choking that city off from its supply lines across the border in syria and is looking tougher there for isis as it is across this region wolf? >> phil, i want you to stand by for a moment. we're just getting in some comments from the white house spokesperson, eric schultz. he's traveling with the president aboard air force one. he's telling reporters, i'll be precise, the white house is quote, deeply concerned about the reports that this american female hostage held by isis has been killed by a jordanian air strike. that's the isis claim. but schultz says the white house has, quote, no indication to corroborate those claims. presumably presumably we'll be hearing more along those lines from the president's national security

adviser, susan rice, who's getting ready to deliver remarks on u.s. national security over at the brookings institution. we also heard earlier, no confirmation at all from the state department. deputy spokeswoman marie harf r the white house obviously concerned about these reports but no confirmation whatsoever. we'll take a quick break. much more after this. shopping online is as easy as it gets. wouldn't it be great if hiring plumbers, carpenters and even piano tuners were just as simple? thanks to angie's list now it is. start shopping online from a list of top-rated providers. visit angieslist.com today.

let's get back to the breaking news we're following. a claim by isis with no proof, no confirmation that an american female hostage has been killed in a jordanian air strike. here's what the deputy state department spokeswoman, marie harf, said here in washington about the claim just moments ago. >> i cannot confirm those reports in any way. >> do you know -- >> obviously people are looking into them but cannot confirm them. >> do you know if the woman in question is alive still? >> we're just not going to get into specifics about americans being held overseas for privacy of them of their families obviously as you can imagine these are very sensitive situations. so we're just not going to get into these details. >> is it your understanding that the islamic state was holding an american woman? >> we've said -- >> without identifying her? >> we've said there are a number of americans being held overseas including still by the islamic state.

i'm not going to get into further details than that. but i will say broadly that secretary kerry, our team in this building across the u.s. government are putting every effort behind finding any americans being held overseas every intelligence tool diplomatic tool the secretary has reached out to over four dozen countries about americans being held overseas or at large to try to bring these people home. >> marie harf the deputy spokeswoman over at the state department. let's bring in our panel of expert our terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank, our political commentator, peter bienert, retired lieutenant colonel james reese. colonel reese, that is a claim by isis. they haven't released any evidence that a jordanian air strike killed this american female hostage. we're not releasing her name at the request of the family. what's your analysis? is it possible isis may be telling the truth? >> wolf, it is.

it is plausible. and down at centcom right now with the coalition, when they do these planning targets or these bomb runs, all of those aspects of the prisoner and the hostages are all taken in effect with the operational planners and the intelligence analysts going through nitpick detail to make sure they don't target anything they have. we all know that this intelligence especially in syria, is not as good as we have in iraq now. so it is plausible and it could be unfortunate. but sometimes that's the collateral damage that happens in these wars. >> what's your analysis, paul cruickshank? >> well i think it's very convenient from the isis point of view that she would be in this building alone without any other guards. isis is saying that no isis fighters were killed in this strike. and hit by a jordanian aircraft. it seems very very convenient for propaganda purposes from the isis point of view.

so i think we should be very very skeptical about the specifics of this claim. >> you're also seeing -- you have some information, paul on the watermarks we're seeing on these images? >> yeah. there originally seemed to be a disconnect between what they were saying that the strike was today and then the caption on the actual photographs which in the normal calendar would be yesterday. but isis has just released their own version of the islamic calendar. so that disconnect has actually gone away now. we don't believe there is a disconnect between those two things. important to clarify that. >> it seems very convenient peter, that isis all of a sudden is saying this woman is killed by a jordanian air strike that she's the only person the only casualty inside that building. what's your analysis? >> right. you could imagine that isis feels somehow that by having the american hostage killed by a

jordanian plane that that would cause some kind of rupture, a conflict between the united states and jordan. it's hard to now how sophisticating and understanding isis has of what the politics inside the united states or inside jordan are. but given the way they handled the jordanian pilot and how disastrously they handled the politics where they were clearly trying to weaken the jordanian government and ended up strengthening it, i think it's not beyond the realm of possibility that they somehow thought that putting out this story would cause a backlash inside the united states because an american hostage was supposedly being killed by a jordanian pilot. that's nonsense. that's not the way people in the united states will react by and large. so i think it's potentially misinformation made from a kind of crude calculation about what might work inside the united states. >> because, colonel reese, you know the region well. i have been told as soon as the jordanians went ahead and executed that female terrorist who was convicted, sajida al

rishawi, they hung her, a lot of the experts that i was speaking with middle east experts, said you know what's going to happen next? the isis terrorists are going to go ahead and kill that american female hostage as revenge. you kill an isis female they're going to go ahead and kill another female sort of whatever they want to do to make their point. you kill females, we're going to kill females as well. you buy that theory? >> actually wolf i don't, especially on the american side. the american hostage, i believe, gives isis more blue chips for down the road that they want to save they want to show they want to use for propaganda. just killing her doesn't really do anything. so i don't buy that analysis. i understand the mentality behind it but i don't think i would buy that, especially from the american side.

>> remember colonel reese, they did behead three or four americans already and they posted those videos online, so why not go ahead and kill another american? >> again, because she's a woman and i believe that gives them more propaganda use in showing her what they consider women -- especially the infidel women, and really turn it into a complete show of mercy -- she would rather be dead than having what's happening to her by isis. so it's a tough call. but i think both sides are plausible and i do think that keeping her alive gives them more blue chips of propaganda. >> we have not confirmed that she is dead. this is a claim, simply a claim by isis that a jordanian air strike wound up killing this american female hostage. let's take another quick break. we'll resume our special coverage right after this. i'm only in my 60's. i've got a nice

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don't be old fashioned. xfinity customers add xfinity home for $29.95 a month for 12 months. plus for a limited time, get a free security camera call 1800 xfinity or visit comcast.com/xfinityhome. once again, the breaking news we're following here isis claiming that a jordanian air strike today killed an american female hostage in syria. no confirmation no corroboration. u.s. officials are clearly taking this with a huge huge grain of salt. national security council official just saying moments ago, we are deeply concerned by these reports. we have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates isis' claims. let's go to our chief national security correspondent, jim sciutto, who's monitoring what's going on as well.

jim, clearly it's a very disturbing report. we believe that this woman is the last american hostage actually being held by isis, right? >> reporter: that's right. that's been our information. i think the key questions here one, you have to take the isis claim, the isis story with deep skepticism. one, they have an enormous ax to grind to blame this on the jordanians and claim those were the circumstances of her death. two, the timing of her death, there's no proof that it happened in this strike or when it happened. remember with the jordanian pilot, there was questions and only established by jordanian intelligence analysis that in fact he was killed some 30 days before that death video came out. and, remember during that time those 30 days isis continued to have a hostage negotiation in effect with the jordanians claiming he was alive. fair question to u.s. officials is when was the last time they got proof of life if any, for

this american hostage? i have asked that question but like this entire story, u.s. officials are refusing to comment in general except to say that they don't have anything to independently corroborate this video yet. but we know this group is one that is intensely focused on its propaganda value. and we have to look at their motives here and take their statements with the deepest skepticism. >> and the jordanian government clearly insisting this is a low p.r. stunt by isis clearly trying to divide the coalition, if you will. if that in fact is their attempt, i don't think it's going to succeed. the united states and jordan for example, are as you could correctly point out, are intimately very very closely cooperating in these latest round of air strikes in the aftermath of that brutal murder of that jordanian fighter pilot, right? >> reporter: no question. and you've seen that because of

course there were questions. how would jordan respond to that horrible murder of their pilot? would they be cowled by it would the jordanians question their commitment to this campaign? the opposite happened. you saw enormous public support, in fact calls for blood in response to that killing and you saw jordan step up immediately with now two days of more muscular air strikes against isis targets. and it's interesting as well looking at the jordanian viewpoint. just a short time ago, nasser judeh, the jordan foreign minister tweeted out that this is an old tactic in his words, used by terrorists and other groups to claim that hostages were killed in air strikes. and he's right. this wouldn't be the first time that a group like this has made a claim like that to its own benefit. we have to keep that in kind as this story goes forward. >> good analysis jim. stand by. we'll get back to you f lots of breaking news happening right

now. we're trying to get some confirmation if possible of this isis claim. and it is only a claim with no evidence backing it up at all, that a jordanian air strike has killed this young american female hostage. much more right after this. ♪ (flute plays throughout) ♪ my new website on squarespace is designed to help you tuck yourself in at night. it features guided meditations soothing melodies, and stories to help you get cozy. i sincerely hope you dig it. whatever your idea is, build it beautiful on squarespace.

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washington. an update now on the breaking news we're following this hour. a claim by isis with no proof or confirmation that an american female hostage has been killed. the report is being met with a great deal of skepticism. the white house says it is deeply concerned about the report but also says i'm quoting, there is no indication to corroborate those claims. in an online posting, isis claims the female hostage was killed by a jordanian air strike in raqqa, syria. isis offered no evidence that the woman, an american aid worker has been killed. the terror group posted pictures of a collapsed building where it claims the woman was being held. jordan's interior minister calls this an attempt to splinter the u.s.-load coalition and he adds quote, this is another p.r. stunt by isis. they tried to kausz problems internally in jordan and haven't succeeded. they are now trying to drive a wedge between the coalition with the latest low p.r. stunt.

then there's this state from the national security council at the white house, quote, we are obviously very deeply concerned by these reports. we have not at this time seen any evidence to corroborates isil's or isis' claims. let's go to amman, jordan. cnn's jomana karadsheh has been monitoring what's going on. i know you're speaking with jordanian officials, jomana. they're basically calling isis a bunch of liars, denying these reports. what else are you hearing? >> reporter: there's lots of questions here, wolf. of course one of these things is -- one of the issues here is the timing. why is this happening just as jordan is ramping up its military campaign against isis? you also have officials asking the question of jordan -- with jordan increasing its air strikes, of course why is this happening right now? and also wolf we've seen why trust this organization some say, with a claim like this?

what we have seen in the past over the past couple of weeks with this hostage crisis the jordanians were involved in indirect negotiations to try and secure the release of their hostage, the pilot, who was killed. and after that it was revealed by the jordanian government that he was killed on january the 3rd. and throughout isis was really implying that he was alive and they were trying to have a swap for his release. so questions about why trust this claim, the timing of it and of course the motivations here? as we have seen wolf jordan in the past couple of weeks was put in a very tough position with allies like japan during that hostage crisis where jordan was being pushed into a corner to release sajida rishawi. then there were these attempts it was felt here in jordan to try and destabilize the country, drive a wedge here between the population and the government with people blaming the government and the king at the time for joining the coalition against isis and ending up in a

situation where one of its citizens had been held captive and then killed. but it does seem that so far as analysts would say, as officials here would say, that this really has backfired on isis. >> and jordan is making it also clear that these air strikes which they resumed very dramatically powerfully yesterday, continuing today. they will argue and they have to all of us that they're only just beginning. they're not going to be at all influenced by what isis is doing. they're going to go after isis in a big-time way. jomana stand by. i want to bring back our terrorism analyst, paul cruickshank, and also retired lieutenant colonel james reese joining us on the phone right now. it does sound pretty coincidental colonel reese, this american hostage, this woman, 26 years old, we're not identifying her at the request of the family she's been held by sois for some time. all of a sudden in the aftermath of what's been going on the

brutal burning alive of the jordanian pilot, the jordanian execution of this female terrorist and another terrorist that they were held all of a sudden this american hostage is dead. it does sound very coincidental, doesn't it? >> yes, sir, it does. there's no question -- i agree with jomana and what everyone is saying. however, the planners and the folks that are doing this for a job every single day, analyzing, deciding on targets against isis have to also look at it in parallel and say, what if it's true? and i hope it's not true. but if it is true then there's all these second and third order effects that go in. number one is we need to tell the jordanians it's collateral damage, it's unfortunate, we need to keep driving on, don't lose the pressure and we need to continue to see if we can confirm or deny this happened. but right now, it's emotion on emotion. and the planners that are doing this and the intel analysts have to keep that emotion out and look at it from a different

perspective. >> from isis' standpoint paul cruickshank, what's more valuable to them right now -- to have kept this female hostage alive or to see her dead and to make this claim that it was a jordanian air strike that killed her? >> well, i think it's clear what's more valuable from the isis point of view it's to try and drive a wedge between the jordanians and the americans here. they're making this claim that she was killed in this strike. that's obviously very convenient from their point of view that she would be alone in this building without any other guards who are all supposedly out at friday prayers when this air strike happened, to hit the house. and they're of course saying it was from a jordanian aircraft. how on earth could they know it was a jordanian aircraft rather than another aircraft from the united states or some other power? so all very, very convenient. it really smacks of propaganda here, wolf. >> i want all of you to stand by. we'll stay on top of the

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we're following the breaking news a claim, yes, a claim with no evidence no corroboration, a claim by isis that a jordanian air strike over raqqa in syria today wound up killing a young american aid worker being held hostage by isis.

according to this woman's family they are now telling us we can indeed report her name and her background and show you some pictures of her. this is kayla bueller, she's 26 years old, an american humanitarian aid worker from prescott, arizona. on august 2014 she was taken captive by isis in aleppo, syria. she graduated from northern arizona university in 2009. kayla has devoted her career since then to trying to help people around the world, especially syrian refugees. that drew kata loath turkish/syrian border according to her family in december 2012. she worked with the danish refugee council, humanitarian sorgs organizations and then wound up going to syria. she was asked at the time why she was going on this mission.

she said i'm quoting her now, i find god in the suffering eyes reflected in mine. if this is how you are revealed to me this is how i will forever seek you. earlier, she had done humanitarian work in africa in northern india and israel, palestine. she returned home to arizona in 2011 worked for one year at an hiv/aids clinic while volunteering at a women's shelter at night. she traveled to france in december 2011. she actually started to learn french in preparation for her humanitarian work in africa. that has been the common thread of her life. kayla mueller, 26 years old, this is the american humanitarian aid worker who's been held hostage by isis since august 4th, 2013. isis now claiming she is dead as a result of a jordanian air strike. but all of us are taking those isis claims very, very skeptically. paul cruickshank, obviously a

woman devoted to trying to help others a young woman, clearly trying to do the best she can and isis takes her hostage back in 2013. and now they say she's dead. >> that's absolutely right. someone who went to syria to try and help people from a medical point of view from an aid worker point of view. recalls the case of alan henning, british taxi driver who cave up his job to go and help the syrian people he was beheaded by isis by jihadi john who orchestrated that. obviously there has to be a lot of concern about the status of her right now. but we don't want to speculate too much right now for the family's sake. but isis making this propaganda claim, we need to treat it as absolute and total propaganda that somehow a jordanian air strike killed her today, a few hours ago, during friday

prayers, when all her guards supposedly were -- happened to be outside the building and only she was killed in this strike. i think a lot of skepticism about that that isis probably from a propaganda point of view trying to drive a wedge between the jordanians and americans. obviously i think that's going to fail big time. >> her parents tell us by the way, that she attended high school tricity college prep in prescott, arizona, where she was from. she received all sorts of awards national young leadership award, academic excellence award, philanthropist of the year award in 2005. gold presidential volunteer award. in 2007 she worked with youth count, america's promise, open end for troubled youth. clearly she was very very idealistic and she really wanted to help a lot of people. that's what drove her to actually go paul to syria in the first place to deal with

refugees to try to help them in those hospitals. but she was kidnapped in aleppo and taken hostage back in 2013 august 4th, we're told, 2013. >> yeah. and just very courageous and brave, all these people going in whether they were journalists or aid workers or people going in for other reasons to document the suffering of the syrian people or to help the syrian people. obviously a lot of risk a lot of kidnapping gangs around right across syria. isis not particularly known to have a stronghold in aleppo especially back in 2013. so not entirely clear how she got into isis custody, whether it was isis themselves who kidnapped her or whether some other kidnapping gang. and she eventually ended up with them. but obviously horribly worrying times now for the family, wolf. >> i remember back in august of 2013, we're looking at her

picture, 26-year-old kayla mueller, this young woman from prescott arizona, isis says she's now dead as a result of a jordanian air strike all of us are taking that with a lot of skepticism right now. no confirmation whatsoever, no corroboration. but clearly at that time for an american aid worker to get into aleppo was a lot easier than it is right now. stand by for a moment. atika shubert is joining us. she's in amman, jordan for us. we're getting more reaction from the jordanians, atika? atika, can you hear me? >> reporter: yes, i hear you, wolf. as you can imagine, we're still trying to get to the bottom of that. but we have already heard from jordanian officials here who say that this has been simply a p.r. stunt and lies. they say this is an old tactic that's been used by groups like isis claiming that hostages like

this used as human shields are killed in raids. and so they are simply dismissing this. but obviously everybody wants to know what is happening on the ground. as you can imagine, trying to find out what possible -- what the results may be on the ground from this wolf. >> i'm sure the reaction from jordan is going to be intense. there's absolutely absolutely -- i want to be precise, i spoke to the jordanian foreign minister last night, nasser judeh. they say they're only just beginning their retaliation, their efforts to try not only to degrade isis but to destroy isis in collaboration with other coalition partners led by the united states. they are determined in jordan to not only get revenge for the brutal death of that jordanian pilot, but they want to go ahead and do whatever they can to destroy isis. >> reporter: oh, exactly. in fact we just heard from the minister of interior just a short while ago. he specifically said that we jordan are the spearhead of this war against isis.

jordan is taking the lead on this, really. we have seen jordanian jets flying most of those missions over the last 48 hours hitting those targets within syria. and so jordan is saying it's only going to increase that. now, we don't know how this particular news is going to impact that. we're going to have to wait and see. but it should be noted that all of targets they have been hitting have gone through the coalition command structure. in other words, all that intelligence they've been sifting through on the specific isis targets they've been hitting are a compilation of information they've gathered from the u.s. from jordan from other allies. so these are all targets they have agreed upon. so we may see that continuing over the next 24 hours or so. but we simply don't know at this point what targets they're going to hit next and which planes are going to be involved. >> stand by for a moment. paul cruickshank, our terrorism

analyst, is with us. this is a picture of kayla mueller from prescott arizona, a humanitarian aid worker who went to syria and she was actually kidnapped on august 4th 2013 by isis taken captive by doctors without borders hospital trying to help syrian refugees young people and others. the whole notion of this woman, kayla mueller, paul do we know if there was effort by isis to seek something from the united states in exchange for her release? >> we don't, wolf at this point. that kind of information has not been publicly released for very obvious reasons. we don't know if there was any kind of negotiation at any point. if something has happened to this woman, then clearly isis

bears absolute responsibility whichever way around. they took her captive. they've been holding her for all this time. i think we're likely to see a kind of backlash against them again for this. like we saw with the british taxi driver that went to help the syrian people when he was beheaded by isis. there was outrage in the united kingdom from the muslim community especially. according to people tracking this in the uk that put off youngsters from wanting to join isis because there was so much anger that they would kill an aid worker. >> a 26-year-old young woman, ideaistic, committed to help people refugees and young people and children not only syria but elsewhere in africa

and the middle east we're told by her family. also northern india. she clearly wanted to do good as they say, and help people. obviously wound up being kidnapped by isis 2013 as she was leaving a doctors without borders hospital in aleppo syria. she's been held hostage by isis ever since is. today isis claiming she's dead as a result of a jordanian air strike in raqqa, isis strong hold. there's no corroboration, no evidence. u.s. officials are making it clear they're obviously concerned about this point but they have no evidence to back this up. all of us take the isis claim very skeptically for good reason. explain why. >> it's far too convenient from an isis point of view she would happen to be in this building alone without any guards during friday prayers, which itself is

farfetched. why would she be left alone despite the fact she's of high value to isis. she alone was killed in the strike and that it was jordanian aircraft particularly according to isis that were responsible for this. how on earth would isis know this was a strike by jordanian rather than american aircraft? it's all too convenient from an isis point of view. it really smacks propaganda trying to drive a wedge between jordanians and americans. that's going to fail big time. jordanians and americans resolved to combat isis in syria and iraq. >> as far as you know paul beyond kayla mueller, any other americans held hostage by isis? >> we don't know any other americans specifically held hostage by isis. we do know of course there's a

british reporter john cantley who's being held hostage by isis. he's appeared in several propaganda videos forced to appear in the videos for the group whether in kobani or others. there's significant concern now about his status as well. >> i want to go back to antika. jordanians are saying this is a big fat lie by isis and that jordanians didn't kill this 26-year-old. we're mentioning this as a result of her family deciding that would be okay. earlier we refused to show the picture and say the name of the family hoping to keep privacy. isis claims she's dead result of a jordanian air strike. i want to be precise with you.

jordanians say this is a big fat lie by isis that it was not a jordanian air strike. if of course she is dead and we hope she is not dead and still alive, that it was the result of isis killing not a jordanian bomb. >> you have to remember jordan has been dealing with isis the last month or so saying they might trade the jordanian air pilot who was brutally murdered. this went on for a month. they brutally killed that air pilot a month ago. as far as the jordanian government is concerned, they've been dealing with a group that has done nothing but lie and murder. for them to suddenly receive this claim that a hostage has been killed by a jordanian plane, to them it's a complete lie and something they point out has been a tactic used by

organizations like isis in the past especially those organization using human shields to claim they were killed by an air strike like this. there are many reasons why the jor danedanian government says this is a lie and tactic. jordan and the u.s. are steadfast allies and it's unlikely to have any impact. >> i want to show that picture of kayla mueller with her mother in arizona. the 26-year-old aid worker. isis claims she's dead as a result of a jordanian air strike. will there's no evidence or corroboration to back up that isis claim. the family in arizona put out a statement. let me read it to viewers. the family of kayla mueller request that media cautiously

report on her background work and current situation and limit speculation. we ask that you respect the privacy of the mueller family and friends at this difficult time. we'll of course honor that request from the mueller family. it's a very painful fulful situation. it doesn't get more painful. you see mom and daughter there. it's a hard situation. marcia mueller is the mother. kayla mueller is the daughter from prescott arizona. it doesn't get more heart wrenching than that does it? >> how many more teams are going to have to go through in the months and years from the isis point of view? it must have been too awful for the family to see the other beheadings of isis hostages knowing their daughter was also in captivity with the group. just too terrible to imagine how her family would have to go

through that. isis are going to try to take more westerners hostage, more internationals hostage. they feel that works from a propaganda point of view. there's worry even that they might try to snatch people from lebanon or across the boarder in turkey. some intelligence suggesting they've been trying to put rans in places to do that. worrying that isis affiliates elsewhere in the region may try to make westerners hostage including in egypt where there's a new isis affiliate which is now very active there and also in libya as well. a lot of concern we haven't seen the last of these sort of awful moments, wolf. >> paul we know isis is very sophisticated with their social media, propaganda. i assume they think by making this claim that a jordanian air strike wound up killing kayla mueller, the 26-year-old american hostage. no corroboration of that. they think this will play into

their hands and generate more support, more terrorist support for more recruits if you will. >> yes. they believe it may drive a wedge between the jordanians and the americans. the big news yesterday was the resolve being shown by jordan, that it was much more fully engaged. obviously if this was somehow collateral damage that would be a setback for jordan in efforts to go after isis. i think this is very likely to be just total propaganda making this stuff up as they've made a lot up in recent weeks. we can't take anything isis says at face value. >> that's a fair statement. once again, kayla mueller 26 years old. there she is with her mother marcia.

it is claimed by isis that a jordanian air strike killed kayla today. i'll be back at 5:00 p.m. eastern. for international viewers, amanpour is next. for viewers in north america, brooke baldwin picks up our coverage for newsroom. breaking news here on this friday afternoon. thank you for tuning in to us here at cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. here's where we begin with this claim by isis days after the terrorist released the video showing one of their hostages the jordanian pilot, being burned alive in the cage. the news now that isis is saying 26-year-old kayla mueller, the american aidworker, they were holding hostage has been killed. here's the thing. they're saying it wasn't by their own terrorist hands. they say this was by the