Algerians launch 'final assault'; 7 hostages die
Source: Agencies |
January 20, 2013, Sunday
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THE Algerian army yesterday carried out a "final assault" on al Qaeda-linked gunmen holed up in a desert gas plant, killing 11 of the Islamists after they took the lives of seven foreign hostages.
"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source said.
The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the gas complex with explosives.
The exact death toll among the gunmen and foreign and Algerian workers at the plant near In Amenas close to the Libyan border remained unclear.
Earlier yesterday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source said. It was not clear how they had died.
Sixteen foreign hostages were freed yesterday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese.
Most British nationals caught up in the hostage crisis are now safe although the fate of fewer than 10 of them remains unknown, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday.
The attack on the plant, jointly run by BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state-owned oil company, swiftly turned into the biggest international hostage crises in decades.
Many unaccounted for
Reports earlier put the number of hostages killed at between 12 to 30, with many foreigners still unaccounted for, among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons and Americans.
The US State Department said on Friday one American, Frederick Buttaccio, had died but gave no further details. The French defence minister said he understood there were no more French workers among the hostages.
Two Norwegians were released overnight, leaving six unaccounted for, while Romania said three of its nationals had been freed. A number of Japanese workers were still unaccounted for.
Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighboring Mali.
However, some US and European officials say the elaborate raid probably required too much planning to have been organized from scratch in single week since France first launched its strikes.
Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army attacked, but many hostages were killed.
"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source said.
The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the gas complex with explosives.
The exact death toll among the gunmen and foreign and Algerian workers at the plant near In Amenas close to the Libyan border remained unclear.
Earlier yesterday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source said. It was not clear how they had died.
Sixteen foreign hostages were freed yesterday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese.
Most British nationals caught up in the hostage crisis are now safe although the fate of fewer than 10 of them remains unknown, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said yesterday.
The attack on the plant, jointly run by BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state-owned oil company, swiftly turned into the biggest international hostage crises in decades.
Many unaccounted for
Reports earlier put the number of hostages killed at between 12 to 30, with many foreigners still unaccounted for, among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons and Americans.
The US State Department said on Friday one American, Frederick Buttaccio, had died but gave no further details. The French defence minister said he understood there were no more French workers among the hostages.
Two Norwegians were released overnight, leaving six unaccounted for, while Romania said three of its nationals had been freed. A number of Japanese workers were still unaccounted for.
Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighboring Mali.
However, some US and European officials say the elaborate raid probably required too much planning to have been organized from scratch in single week since France first launched its strikes.
Hundreds escaped on Thursday when the army attacked, but many hostages were killed.
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