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Johannesburg - South African Pierre Korkie, who was held hostage by al-Qaeda militants, has been killed, the Gift of the Givers confirmed on Saturday.
"He was killed in an attempted hostage release in Yemen early this morning [Saturday]," founder Imtiaz Sooliman said.
Sooliman told eNCA they had reached an agreement with al-Qaeda that Korkie would be released on Sunday.
Tweets came streaming on Saturday about Korkie’s death.
According to Volksblad journalist Vicus Burger Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman had confirmed the death.
Eyewitness News tweeted: “Gift of the Givers have confirmed to EWN that SA hostage in Yemen, Pierre Korkie has died.”
Korkie and his wife Yolande were kidnapped by the militants in Taiz, Yemen, in May last year. Yolande was released on 10 January and returned to South Africa on 13 January. The Gift of the Givers helped negotiate her release.
At the time of the kidnapping, Korkie was a teacher in Yemen, while his wife did relief work in hospitals.
The kidnappers demanded about R32.5m in exchange for Korkie's safe return.
The foundation had tried to make contact with al-Qaeda through international media and circulated an interview with their office manager in Yemen, Anas al-Hamati.
Al-Hamati was forced to leave Yemen at the end of January for his own safety after al-Qaeda accused him of stealing the ransom money.
Tribal leaders in Yemen then took over the talks with Al-Qaeda.
On 25 February, tribal leaders found out that Korkie was still alive but in bad health. Since then no more information was available on his condition.
Korkie was, however, spotted three times.
Gift of the Givers founder, Imtiaz Sooliman, told OFM News that #PierreKorkie was killed during a US military attempt to free a US hostage
— OFM News (@OFMNews9497) December 6, 2014Pierre Korkie has passed on , Gift of the Givers has confirmed , Rest in Peace
— Tirelo Motsepe (@tirelomantles) December 6, 2014Horrible news about #pierrekorkie as confirmed by @volksbladnuus. Barbaric to kidnap and kill people. No matter what you believe in. RIP.
— Brenden Nel (@BrendenNel) December 6, 2014#Breaking: Imtiaz Sooliman of Gift of the Givers just confirmed that Pierre Korkie has passed away. via @VicusBurger
— Cornel van Heerden (@CornelvHeerden) December 6, 2014
