也门基地组织威胁周末处决美国记者

也门基地组织威胁周末处决美国记者

SANAA, Yemen — Seething over an attempt last month by United States commandos to free an American hostage, Al Qaeda’s Yemeni affiliate has threatened to kill him by the end of the week and warned the Obama administration against further “foolish action,” according to a video posted on YouTube.

也门萨那——上个月，美国突击队试图解救一名美国人质，此举让基地组织(Al Qaeda)的也门分支十分愤怒。根据发布在YouTube上的一则视频，该机构威胁要在本周末杀害这名人质，并警告奥巴马政府不要再做出任何“愚蠢举动”。

The journalist, Luke Somers, who appears in the video posted late Wednesday, has been missing since September 2013, when he was snatched off a street in Sana, the Yemeni capital.

这名人质叫做卢克·萨默斯(Luke Somers)，是一位新闻工作者。他出现在了这则周三夜里发布的视频中。2013年9月，他在也门首都萨那的街头突然被人抓走，随后一直下落不明。

Mr. Somers, speaking to the camera, appears composed and healthy, wearing a purple shirt and glasses.

面对摄像机说话的萨默斯看起来镇定而健康，他穿着一件紫色上衣，戴着眼镜。

“I’m looking for any help that can get me out of this situation,” he said. “I’m certain that my life is in danger. So as I sit here now, I ask if there’s anything that can be done, please let it be done.”

“我请求大家的帮助，只要能让我脱离这种处境就行，”他说。“我确信我的生命正处于危险之中。所以，我现在坐在这里发出请求，如果有什么事情可以做，请把它付诸实施。”

His family, breaking its silence about the abduction for the first time, responded to the video by posting its own on Thursday, imploring Mr. Somers’s captors to release him, thanking them for treating him well and insisting that the family had no prior knowledge of the raid.

他的家人周四首次就其遭绑架一事打破沉默，在网上发布视频作了回应。他们恳求扣押萨默斯的人释放他，并感谢他们对萨默斯的善待，而且坚称自己事前并不知道这次救援行动。

The video of Mr. Somers amounted to an unusually public and hard-line ultimatum from the affiliate, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, according to analysts who study the group.

绑匪所在的分支叫做阿拉伯半岛基地组织(Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula)。研究该组织的分析人士表示，萨默斯的这则视频，是来自他们的一次罕见的公开而强硬的最后通牒。

The three-day deadline was among the shortest to have appeared in any Qaeda videos in recent years. And it was a rare instance of the Yemeni branch formally releasing a video threatening a Western hostage.

为期三天的最后时限，堪称近年来基地组织的视频中所出现的最短期限之一。这个位于也门的分支此前也很少正式发布威胁西方人质的视频。

Nasr bin Ali al-Ansi, a leader of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula who appears in the video, was vague about the group’s conditions for the hostage’s release, saying only that they were “well known.”

阿拉伯半岛基地组织的头目之一纳斯尔·本·阿里·安西(Nasr bin Ali al-Ansi)也出现在了视频当中。他并未明确表述释放这名人质的条件，只是说这些条件“众所周知”。

At the same time, he suggested that the ultimatum was a reaction to the Nov. 25 rescue attempt, which left seven Qaeda members dead. “We warn Obama and the American government of the consequences of proceeding with any other foolish action,” he said in the video.

同时，他还暗示，这次最后通牒是对11月25日的营救行动的回应。此次行动共导致七名基地组织成员死亡。“我们警告奥巴马和美国政府，继续进行任何愚蠢举动将会带来严重后果，”他在视频中说。

Al Qaeda has largely turned away from executing hostages over the past five years, releasing the majority for ransom. An investigation this year by The New York Times found that Al Qaeda and its direct affiliates had taken in at least $125 million in revenue from kidnappings since 2008.

过去五年里，基地组织已基本不再处决人质，而是释放了其中大部分人，以换取赎金。《纽约时报》今年的一篇调查性报道发现，自2008年以来，基地组织及其直接分支已经因为绑架获得了至少1.25亿美元(约合7.7亿元人民币)的收益。

Payments were made almost exclusively by European governments. Mr. Somers was born in Britain, but said in the video that he had lived most of his life in the United States and is an American citizen. Britain and the United States do not pay ransoms.

这些钱几乎都是由欧洲国家的政府支付的。萨默斯出生在英国，但他在视频中表示，自己大部分时间生活在美国，目前是美国公民。英美两国的政策均为不缴纳赎金。

Al Qaeda’s focus on collecting ransoms contrasts sharply with the more brutal practices of the Islamic State, the extremist group fighting in Iraq and Syria, also known as ISIS or ISIL. The Islamic State has killed hundreds of Iraqi and Syrian civilians and soldiers, publicizing the deaths in sophisticated propaganda videos. It also has killed six of the 23 Western hostages held alongside the slain journalist James Foley — and is threatening to kill more.

基地组织对赎金的偏好与伊斯兰国(Islamic State)的残暴行径形成了巨大反差。后者在伊拉克及叙利亚境内活动，也被称为ISIS或ISIL。伊斯兰国杀害了数以百计的伊拉克和叙利亚平民和军人，并发布精心制作的宣传视频，公布处死他们的画面。在与遇害记者詹姆斯·弗利(James Foley)一同遭到扣押的23名西方人质中，已有六人被处死，还有更多人质受到该组织的死亡威胁。

In a possible sign that Al Qaeda was adopting a more radical stance — and possibly feeling pressure from rival jihadist groups like the Islamic State — the body of Rasheed al-Habishi, a Yemeni hostage believed to have been held alongside Mr. Somers, was discovered on Thursday, according to his family.

据也门人质拉希德·哈贝什(Rasheed al-Habishi)的家人透露，据信与萨默斯一同被绑架的哈贝什的尸体于周四被发现。这可能说明，基地组织开始采取更加激进的态度——或许是因为他们感受到了来自伊斯兰国等与其竞争的其他圣战组织的压力。

The rescue effort, a joint raid by United States Special Operations commandos and Yemeni counterterrorism troops, focused on a cave in a remote area of Hadhramaut Province, near the border with Saudi Arabia. Areas of the province, Yemen’s largest, are beyond the government’s control, and it has been hit repeatedly by American drones armed with missiles.

此前的救援行动由美国陆军特种部队的突击队与也门反恐部队联手展开。他们对位于哈德拉毛省偏远地区的一处洞穴进行了突袭。该省位于也门与沙特阿拉伯的边界线附近，是也门面积最大的省，其中有多片区域不处于政府控制之下，并反复遭到美国无人机的导弹袭击。

When the rescuers arrived, surprising the kidnappers, Mr. Somers was not among a group of eight hostages whom the commandos freed. Yemeni military officials said that Mr. Somers and several other hostages may have been moved two days before the rescue attempt, citing the testimony of one of the freed hostages.

救援人员到达时，绑匪措手不及。突击队解救了八名人质，但萨默斯不在其中。也门军队官员表示，根据一名获救人质的证词，萨默斯和其他几名人质可能在救援行动开始的两天前被转移到了其他地方。

Mr. Somers was believed to be among a group that included citizens of Britain, South Africa and Turkey, as well as Mr. Habishi, who worked as an employee in a state-run electricity company, according to his family.

据信，萨默斯与一组人质待在一起，其中包括英国人、南非人、土耳其人，以及哈贝什。据哈贝什的家人透露，他是一家国有电力公司的员工。

The White House said it was aware of the video of Mr. Somers, and gave its first official account of the United States-Yemeni mission to rescue him last month.

白宫表示已经注意到萨默斯的视频，并首次提供了有关上个月美国与也门联手解救萨默斯的行动的官方说法。