Algeria siege: 37 foreigners died

Abdulmalek Sellal

Algeria's Prime Minister has said 37 foreigners of eight nationalities and one Algerian worker were killed during the hostage crisis at a gas plant. PM Abdelmalek Sellal said 29 of the militants who overran the facility near the desert town of In Amenas had been killed and three captured alive. The militants included 11 Tunisians, two Canadians, and others, he said.

The four-day siege ended at the weekend when Algerian troops recaptured the site. Five hostages are still missing. Japan on Monday said seven of its nationals had been killed and three others remained missing. US officials confirmed that three Americans were among the dead, with seven survivors.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said thee Britons had been killed, with three others missing and presumed dead. He said the hostage crisis highlighted the need for a "strong security response" matched by an "intelligent political response". The foreigners killed or still missing also include workers from France, Norway, Malaysia, the Philippines and Romania.

Planning

Mr Sellal praised the decision by Algerian special forces to storm the site, adding that the aim of the kidnappers was to "blow up the gas plant".

"The terrorists also shot some of the hostages in the head, killing them," he stressed.

The prime minister said the kidnappers had crossed into the country from northern Mali, and that they were from Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia, Mali, Niger, Canada and Mauritania. The militants said they had taken hostages in retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in Mali earlier this month.

However Mr Sellal said the attack on the gas plant had been planned for more than two months.

Algerian police say it was organised by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a militant leader who recently fell out with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which originated in Algeria but now operates throughout the Sahara and Sahel regions.

The crisis began on Wednesday when militants attacked two buses carrying foreign workers to the remote site in eastern Algeria. A Briton and an Algerian died in the incident. The militants then took expatriates hostage at the complex, which was quickly surrounded by the Algerian army.

Algerian state media said later that 685 Algerian workers at the plant had escaped, with reports that militants told them they were only targeting non-Muslims.

Algeria crisis: Captors and hostages die in assault

Freed hostages in Algeria

A four-day siege at a gas facility in the Sahara desert has ended, with militants and some hostages killed.

Seven hostages were killed by their captors during a final raid by Algerian troops - at least 23 hostages and 32 hostage-takers died in the four-day stand-off, Algerian officials say.

Five Britons are feared dead or missing - five Norwegians are unaccounted for.

French President Francois Hollande defended the Algerian response to the crisis as being "the most suitable".

"When you have people taken hostage in such large numbers by terrorists with such cold determination and ready to kill those hostages - as they did - Algeria has an approach which to me, as I see it, is the most appropriate because there could be no negotiation," he told journalists.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron said that "one British citizen has already been killed in this brutal attack and we now fear the worst for the lives of five others who are not yet accounted for".

"There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it," Mr Cameron said.

Clearning Mines

The In Amenas gas field is situated at Tigantourine, about 40km (25 miles) south-west of the town of In Amenas and 1,300km (800 miles) south-east of Algiers.

The plant is jointly run by BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state-owned oil company.

The militants had been involved in a stand-off since Thursday after trying to occupy the remote site.

Details are still sketchy, but unconfirmed reports say the hostage-takers summarily killed the remaining seven hostages before themselves being killed in a final army raid.

Citing a provisional total from the interior ministry, state news agency APS said 685 Algerian workers and 107 out of 132 foreigners working at the plant had been freed.

At least 23 hostages are known to have died, but the nationalities of some are still not known.

With 14 Japanese nationals thought to be missing, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said he had received "severe information" about the fate of the hostages.

The chief executive of BP group said 14 of its 18 staff were safe - the company had "grave fears" for the other four.

Helge Lund, chief executive of Norway's Statoil, said the company was still missing five workers and feared "bad news", Reuters news agency reported.

Algerian national oil and gas company Sonatrach said the army was now clearing mines planted by the militants.

The Algerian interior ministry said troops had recovered:

    six machine guns
    21 rifles
    two shotguns
    two 60mm mortars with shells
    six 60mm missiles with launchers
    two rocket-propelled grenades with eight rockets
    10 grenades in explosive belts

Weapons allegedly seized from the kidnappers were shown on Algerian TV.

The crisis began on Wednesday when militants attacked two buses carrying foreign workers. A Briton and an Algerian reportedly died in the incident.

The militants then took Algerians and expatriates hostage at the complex. The leader of the hostage-takers is said to be a veteran fighter from Niger, named as Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, which has been in contact with the militants.

The Algerian armed forces attacked on Thursday as militants tried to move some of their captives from the facility.

APS reported before Saturday's raid that a group of militants remained at the site, holed up in a workshop with the remaining hostages and armed with rocket-launchers and machine guns.

A statement from the kidnappers said the assault on the gas plant was launched in retaliation for French intervention against Islamist groups in neighbouring Mali.

How to crisis unfolded

    - Bus attack: 0500 local time 16 January: Heavily armed gunmen attack two buses carrying gas field workers towards In Amenas airfield. A Briton and an Algerian die in the fighting.

    - Hostages taken: The militants drive to the installation at Tigantourine and take Algerian and foreign workers hostage in the living area and the main gas facility at the complex.

    - Army surround complex: Security forces and the Algerian army surround the hostage-takers. Western leaders, including the UK's David Cameron, urge Algeria to consult them before taking action.

    - Army attacks: 1200 (1300 GMT) 17 January: Algerian forces attack as militants try to move some of their captives from the facility. Reports say some hostages escape, but others are killed.

    - Final assault: The Algerians ended the raid on 19 January, killing the last 11 captors after they had killed seven hostages, state media reported. Twenty-three hostages and 32 militants in total are now known to have died.

article source: BBC.co.uk

Algeria says military operation to free hostages 'over'

An Algerian military operation to free hostages being held by Islamist militants at a desert gas plant is now over, state news agency APS reports.

State TV said four foreign hostages were killed in the operation. Others were freed, but there was no confirmation of how many survived.

AFP news agency quoted officials as saying the army had not secured the whole site, which was being searched.

Al-Qaeda-linked fighters occupied the facility near In Amenas on Wednesday.

Reports suggest the facility is still being searched.

During the Algerian military intervention on Thursday as many as 600 Algerians and four foreign hostages - two from Scotland, one from France and one from Kenya - were freed, APS reported.

The Irish government confirmed that one of its citizens was free. Five American hostages had survived and had left the country, US officials were quoted as telling ABC News.

Earlier, the militants reportedly said that at least 34 hostages and 14 kidnappers died, and that seven foreign hostages had survived.

They had claimed to be holding 41 foreign nationals, believed to include British, Japanese, US and Norwegian citizens, in retaliation for French military intervention in neighbouring Mali.

Some workers were reported to have been freed or to have escaped before the Algerian raid.

Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Said Belaid said a "significant number of terrorists" were killed during the raid.

He added: "Unfortunately, we deplore some deaths and some people wounded. We don't yet have the numbers," he said.

British government sources told the BBC that they were preparing for news of multiple British casualties.

BBC political editor Nick Robinson says ministers are still awaiting information from the Algerian government on the number of British dead, injured and missing.

Details of how the raid unfolded were slow to emerge.

APS reported that the Algerian military, which had been surrounding the gas plant, had targeted two vehicles as they tried to escape from the site with an unknown number of people on board.

Militants told local media that Algerian forces had opened fire from the air.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he was told by his Algerian counterpart that Algerian authorities had tried and failed to find a solution to the stand-off on Wednesday night. "The Algerian prime minister said they felt they had no choice but to go in," he said.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was informed that the raid was under way when he called the Algerian Prime Minister at 11.30 GMT, a spokesman said.

Mr Cameron, who cancelled a key speech on Europe scheduled for Friday, made it clear that he would have preferred to have been told in advance, the spokesman added.

Japan's government protested against the raid, urging Algeria "put the highest priority on people's lives". The US said it was "seeking clarity" on what had happened.

Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) until late last year.

Mr Ould Kablia said they had entered Algeria from Libya, AFP reported.

Two people were killed when militants attacked the gas plant.

The Tigantourine gas facility is about 40km (25 miles) south-west of In Amenas, which is close to the Libyan border and about 1,300km (800 miles) south-east of Algiers.

BP operates the gas field jointly with Algerian state oil company Sonatrach and Norwegian firm Statoil.