ABOARD A US MILITARY AIRCRAFT (REUTERS) - The body of Luke Somers, an American held by an Al-Qaeda unit in Yemen who was killed on Saturday when US special forces tried to rescue him, was flown to the United States on Wednesday, a US defence official said.

The body of the photojournalist landed shortly after noon aboard a C-17 US military aircraft in Dover, Delaware, and there was a "dignified transfer" with the Somers' family present, the official said.

No media representatives were present.

US officials said Somers, 33, and another captive, South African Pierre Korkie, 56, were shot and killed by their kidnappers shortly after the raid began in the arid Wadi Abadan district of the Yemeni province of Shabwa.