Canadians among militants in Algeria
Source: Agencies |
January 22, 2013, Tuesday
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The Islamist militants who attacked a natural gas plant in the Sahara wore Algerian army uniforms, memorized the layout of the vast complex and included two Canadians and a team of explosives experts ready to blow the place sky-high, Algeria's prime minister said yesterday.
The operation also appeared to have help from the inside - a former driver at the plant, he said.
Algeria offered a grim toll in the attack, saying that 38 hostages and 29 militants died in four days of mayhem. The dead hostages included seven Japanese workers and three energy workers each from the US and Britain.
Three of the attackers were captured and five foreign workers remain unaccounted for, the prime minister told reporters in Algiers, the capital.
Yesterday's account offered the first Algerian government narrative of the four-day standoff, from the moment of the attempted bus hijacking to the moment when the attackers began to prepare to explode bombs across the massive gas plant.
All but one of the dead hostages - an Algerian driver - were foreigners. The prime minister said three attackers were captured but did not specify their nationalities or their conditions or say where they were being held.
The militants had said during the standoff that their band included people from Canada, and hostages who had escaped recalled hearing at least one of the militants speaking English with a North American accent.
The militant cell also included men from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, as well as three Algerians.
A total of three Americans died in the attack and seven made it out safely, a US official in Washington said.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters that there "was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head."
Sellal said the facility had 790 Algerian workers and 134 foreigners from 26 countries.
The Algerians were freed early in the standoff - former hostages said the attackers immediately separated out the foreigners, forcing some to wear explosive belts.
The Masked Brigade, the group that claimed to have masterminded the takeover, has warned of more such attacks against any country backing France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, where the French are trying to stop an advance by Islamic extremists.
Sellal said the militants had expected to return to Mali with the foreign hostages. Seven French citizens taken hostage in recent years are thought to be held by al-Qaida-linked groups in northern Mali.
The operation also appeared to have help from the inside - a former driver at the plant, he said.
Algeria offered a grim toll in the attack, saying that 38 hostages and 29 militants died in four days of mayhem. The dead hostages included seven Japanese workers and three energy workers each from the US and Britain.
Three of the attackers were captured and five foreign workers remain unaccounted for, the prime minister told reporters in Algiers, the capital.
Yesterday's account offered the first Algerian government narrative of the four-day standoff, from the moment of the attempted bus hijacking to the moment when the attackers began to prepare to explode bombs across the massive gas plant.
All but one of the dead hostages - an Algerian driver - were foreigners. The prime minister said three attackers were captured but did not specify their nationalities or their conditions or say where they were being held.
The militants had said during the standoff that their band included people from Canada, and hostages who had escaped recalled hearing at least one of the militants speaking English with a North American accent.
The militant cell also included men from Egypt, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia, as well as three Algerians.
A total of three Americans died in the attack and seven made it out safely, a US official in Washington said.
Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal told reporters that there "was a mass execution, many hostages were killed by a bullet to the head."
Sellal said the facility had 790 Algerian workers and 134 foreigners from 26 countries.
The Algerians were freed early in the standoff - former hostages said the attackers immediately separated out the foreigners, forcing some to wear explosive belts.
The Masked Brigade, the group that claimed to have masterminded the takeover, has warned of more such attacks against any country backing France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, where the French are trying to stop an advance by Islamic extremists.
Sellal said the militants had expected to return to Mali with the foreign hostages. Seven French citizens taken hostage in recent years are thought to be held by al-Qaida-linked groups in northern Mali.
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