An Egyptian militant organization aligned with the Islamic State has claimed responsibility for killing an American oil worker.
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| American petroleum expert William Henderson Killed by Militants |
William Henderson, who worked for the Houston-based energy company Apache Corp., was killed in Egypt's Western Desert on Aug. 6, the SITE Intelligence Group first reported.
"The tragic carjacking incident this past August involving our colleague Bill Henderson is still under investigation by the U.S. government," Apache spokeswoman Castlen Kennedy said Monday in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Henderson family. Out of respect for the family and the ongoing nature of the investigation, I cannot comment further."
The militant organization Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, which now calls itself the Sinai Province, claimed responsibility for Henderson's death on its official Twitter account late Sunday. It published pictures of his passport and two identification cards.
The U.S. Embassy declined to comment on the Sinai Province's claim.
The passport says Henderson was 58 and a native Texan. His ID cards say he was a production expert for Qarun Petroleum Co., a joint venture between Apache and the Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.
The Enid News & Eagle in northwestern Oklahoma published an obituary for Henderson in August, saying he had "passed suddenly" while working in Karama, Egypt. The article said Henderson was living in Fayetteville, Ark., and that he had worked for Apache for 28 years.
Ansar Beit al-Maqdis denied in a Twitter message that it pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
The denial came the day after a statement, purporting to be from the group saying it had pledged loyalty to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, appeared on two jihadist Twitter feeds. Al-Baghdadi heads the Islamic State,
The group later did pledge its allegiance to the Islamic State and changed its name to Sinai Province on its Twitter feed, Reuters said.
The U.S. and coalition forces have been bombing Islamic State targets in Syria and Iraq for weeks, but no Western ground troops have been deployed.
