An American photojournalist and a South African teacher held captive by Al Qaeda militants in Yemen were killed on Saturday during an ill-fated U.S. rescue mission.

Luke Somers, 33, and South African Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot by their kidnappers soon after the raid began in the Wadi Abadan district of Shabwa.

President Barack Obama released a statement on the tragedy.

“On behalf of the American people, I offer my deepest condolences to Luke’s family and to his loved ones," the statement said.

The president also offered his thoughts and prayers to the family of the non-U.S. citizen hostage who was also murdered during the rescue operation.

On the day of the failed mission, a 40-person team of SEALs landed close to the compound where the men were held.

"There is zero possibility that the hostages were victims of cross fire," a military official told ABC News.

According to Al Jazerra, at least 10 Al Qaeda fighters were also killed during the raid in which no SEALs were injured .

The rescue mission was prompted by a video posted online earlier in the week in which Al Qaeda threatened to kill Somers within 72 hours.

This was the second rescue attempt in less than two weeks to free Somers, who was abducted in September 2013 while he worked as a freelance photojournalist for the Yemen Times. The British-born Somers graduated from Beloit College and was described by the director of a school in which he worked editing a book as having “wanderlust” and enthused with a desire to know what made people tick, The Associated Press reported.

Somers' sister, Lucy Somers, describes her brother as a man driven to raise awareness of the plight in Yemen.

"Through his photographs we can see the humanity through conflicts, the familiar in a turbulent tribal region," she said.

Meanwhile, Korkie was, according to Gift of the Givers, the charity group that had been negotiating his release, set to be let go on Sunday.

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