An American woman taken hostage by the self-declared Islamic State has died after Jordanian warplanes attacked the building where she was being held in Syria, the extremist group says.
The claim was made on Twitter and reported by the the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors jihadi activity. NPR is working to determine the facts of the story.
The ISIS statement reads in part:
"The criminal Crusader coalition aircraft bombarded a site outside the city of Raqqah today at noon while the people were performing the Friday prayer. The air assaults were continuous on the same location for more than an hour. "Allah made their pursuit disappointed and deterred their cunning, and no Mujahid was injured in the bombardment."
Photos released along with the ISIS statement show a multistory building in different states of destruction; the final image shows it essentially reduced to rubble.
The U.S. State Department has declined to comment on the new claim.
As we've reported, Jordan has stepped up its airstrikes on ISIS in the wake of the group's brutal killing of a captured pilot.
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