"For me it's gone from shock and disbelief to complete despair," Boyle's aunt Kelli O'Brien said.

Officials in Canada called for the unconditional release of a Canadian man and his American wife after a new video appeared to show them begging their governments to intervene on their behalf with their Afghan captors.

Canadian hostage Joshua Boyle and his U.S. wife, Caitlan Coleman, appeared in a video released Tuesday by Afghan militants.