All Stories: hostage

ISTANBUL: An Istanbul prosecutor died from his wounds after security forces stormed the office where members of a far-left Turkish group took him hostage on Tuesday, killing his two captors.

ISTANBUL: A far-left Turkish group took an Istanbul prosecutor hostage on Tuesday and threatened to kill him, prompting special forces to enter the courthouse and police to evacuate the building.

TAIPEI: Six inmates who seized weapons from the armory at a Taiwan jail and took the warden and top guard hostage have committed suicide after an overnight standoff, a senior official said on Thursday.

WASHINGTON: The young American hostage who Islamic State says was killed in a Jordanian air strike was condemned to death by the militant group last year, according to an American Muslim activist.

WASHINGTON: The parents of an American hostage who the Islamic State group claimed had been killed in a US-led coalition air strike have said they are "hopeful" she is still alive.

AMMAN: Jordan executed two jihadist prisoners at dawn on Wednesday after vowing a harsh response to the Islamic State group's burning alive of a Jordanian pilot, government spokesman Mohammad al-Momani said.

TOKYO: Efforts by Japan and Jordan to secure the release of two of their nationals held captive by Islamic State militants remain "deadlocked" and the situation remains highly unpredictable, Japanese officials said.

AMMAN: The father of a Jordanian pilot captured by Islamic State fighters after his plane crashed in Syria said he did not consider his son a hostage and called on his captors to treat him as a "guest".

LONDON: U.S. counter-terrorism officials backed negotiations with two prominent jihadi clerics in a failed attempt to save the life of an American hostage who was later beheaded by Islamic State militants, the Guardian newspaper reported on Friday.

SYDNEY: An Iranian-born gunman who took hostages in a Sydney cafe was infatuated with extremism and mentally unstable, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Tuesday, calling the siege a "brush with terrorism".

SYDNEY: Australian police locked down the center of the country's biggest city on Monday after an armed man walked into a busy downtown Sydney cafe, took hostages and forced them to display an Islamic flag, igniting fears of a jihadist attack.

SANAA: An American, a Briton and a South African were among several hostages Yemeni forces sought to free from al Qaeda this week, the defense ministry said on its website, describing a raid that a U.S. defense official said also involved U.S. special forces.

DUBAI: Al Qaeda told the family of a U.S. hostage kidnapped three years ago in Pakistan to press their government to exchange him for prisoners held by the United States, in a message posted on the Internet on Friday.