Just days following the beheading of American journalist James Foley by rebel group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), reports reveal that the terrorist group demanded $132 million for the release of Foley.
An Aug. 21 Mail Online reported that the Islamic State militants demanded the ransom via email six weeks after a July 4th rescue mission authorized by President Barack Obama to save kidnapped hostages, including Foley, "went wrong."
The summer mission to rescue Foley and other American hostages reportedly failed after U.S. forces entered the "wrong camp," according Mail Online.
Foley was a journalist from New Hampshire writing for news organization GlobalPost when he was taken captive in northern Syria in November 2012. A video of the 40-year-old's beheading by the jihadist group was posted on the internet Tuesday.
GlobalPost chief executive officer Philip Balboni told CBS DC reporters Wednesday that the terror group sent an email to Foley's family a week prior to his death. Balboni said the kidnappers ignored pleas for mercy and the email was "full of rage."
Balboni told The Wall Street Journal that the group demanded the $132 million from both Foley's family and the news organization for Foley's release. The ransom request was shared with "appropriate government authorities," according to Balboni.
Foley's former news organization had previously taken action in an effort to have him released.
Balboni told CBS DC that GlobalPost officials "spent millions on efforts to bring Foley home," and that the company even hired an international security firm.
Obama's failed rescue mission involved "several dozen special operations forces" dropped by aircraft into Syria. Though the hostages weren't found, U.S. forces were engaged in a firefight with the Islamic State militants before departing, according to administration officials. The officials reported that several militants were killed and one American sustained "minor injuries."
Though the rescue mission was unsuccessful, Lisa Monaco, who is Obama's top counterterorrism adviser, told CBS DC that the U.S. government believed they had "sufficient intelligence."
"When the opportunity presented itself," Monaco said, "the president authorized the Department of Defense to move aggressively to recover our citizens."
It is common knowledge that the United States government neither negotiates with terrorists nor pay ransoms.
However, Mail Online reported that ISIS has extorted more than $125 million from "compliant European countries" in exchange for hostages.
