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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The White House said Friday in cannot confirm Islamic State's claim that a Jordanian airstrike killed an female American aid worker held hostage by the group.

"We are obviously deeply concerned by these reports," said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan. "We have not at this time seen any evidence that corroborates ISIL's claim."

Jordanian officials call Islamic State's claim "criminal propaganda." Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh said on Twitter it is "an old and sick trick used by terrorists and despots for decades claiming that hostage human shields held captive are killed by air raids."

Jordan has been carrying out airstrikes against Islamic State targets following the group's murder of a Jordanian pilot who was captured in Syria in December. The claim that she was killed in an airstrike was greeted with skepticism, after Jordanian authorities said their pilot was killed a month before IS released a video showing his death.

The American aid worker was identified by her family as Kayla Mueller of Prescott, Arizona. Those who know Kayla say she was deeply moved by the suffering of civilians stuck in poverty and caught up in war and terrorism. She had worked in Syria and volunteered with aid groups in the West Bank and India.

Her family issued a statement Friday saying "the common thread of Kayla's life has been her quiet leadership and strong desire to serve others."

Islamic State said she was killed when a Jordanian airstrike hit the building where she was being held in the Syrian city of Raqqa.

The militants kidnapped her when she left a hospital in Aleppo in 2013.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the State Department has acknowledged there are Americans being held overseas, including by the Islamic State, but said she could not get into any further details about this specific case.

*VOA