The US will stand by its refusal to pay ransoms for American hostages despite the deaths of two men killed in a botched rescue mission, a US official says.
"Our goal has always been to use every appropriate resource within the bounds of the law to assist loved ones to bring their family home," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Monday.
She was speaking as questions mounted over the mission to free American photojournalist Luke Somers and South African teacher Pierre Korkie from the hands of their al-Qaeda captors in Yemen.
Somers, 33, and Korkie, 57, were shot and fatally wounded by their captors when US commandos stormed an al-Qaeda hideout in southwestern Yemen early on Saturday.
The failed raid came just a day before Korkie was due to be released under a deal with the kidnappers.
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President Barack Obama has ordered his national security team, including the State Department, to review how the US government addresses hostage-takings after shocking images of the beheadings of three Americans killed by militants from the Islamic State group.
"But the question of ransom is not a part of this review," Psaki insisted.
"The United States government, as a matter of longstanding policy, does not grant concessions to hostage-takers for a very important reason. Granting such concessions would put all American citizens overseas at greater risk for kidnapping.
"Furthermore, paying ransoms would only sustain the very same terrorist organisations that we are working to destroy."
Psaki also repeated US assurances that they did not know who the second hostage held with Somers was, and were therefore unaware of any imminent deal to free him.
"There was a video making clear the intention to take Mr Somers' life within 72 hours, which we assessed to be Saturday," Psaki said.
"So there was a very short window and timeline during which obviously we had to determine whether we were going to be able to have the operational capabilities and the medical teams necessary and all the steps necessary in order to carry this out."
US intelligence had "assessed that there were two hostages at the location, one of whom was Luke Somers. We did not know who the second hostage was," Psaki said.
She highlighted that several hostages from different places were being held in Yemen.
