Arabian Legend
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Tens of foreign nationals and Algerian citizens were taken hostage in a natural gas facility by an armed group which supports rebels in Mali.
A rescue operation by the Algerian army failed and 35 hostages were killed.
Two people, one of them British and the other Algerian, lost their lives when a bus, carrying workers of a natural gas facility in the south of the country, close to the Libyan border, came under attack.
Tens of people, among them nationals of the USA, France, Britain, Japan and Norway, were taken hostage.
Militants who have ties to Mali's rebel Islamists, demanded that France end its military operation in Mali. They also wanted to escape from the Ain Amenas energy complex with the hostages. The Algerian government turned down the demand.
The armed group said the kidnappings were in retaliation for the Algerian support to French military intervention in Mali.
The rescue operation by the Algerian military against the Islamists who called themselves Masked Brigade failed. 35 hostages and 15 opposition members were killed in the operation carried out by helicopters.
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Thirty hostages were killed, and at least 22 remained unaccounted for on Friday, after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist gunmen, an operation which reportedly is continuing.
With Western leaders clamoring for details of the assault they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting them, a local source said the gas base was still surrounded by Algerian special forces and some hostages remained inside.
Thirty hostages, including several Westerners, were killed during the storming on Thursday, the source said, along with at least 11 of their captors, who said they had taken the site as retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in neighboring Mali.
Fourteen Japanese were among those still unaccounted for by the early hours of Friday, their Japanese employer said, while Norwegian energy company Statoil which runs the Tigantourine gas field with Britain's BP and Algeria's national oil company said eight Norwegian employees were still missing.
An Irish engineer who survived said he saw four jeeps full of hostages blown up by Algerian troops whose commanders said they moved in about 30 hours after the siege began because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.
The crisis posed a serious dilemma for Paris and its allies as French troops attacked the hostage-takers' al-Qaida allies in Mali. It also left question marks over the ability of OPEC-member Algeria to protect vital energy resources and strained its relations with Western powers.
Two Japanese, two Britons, and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight dead hostages were Algerian.
The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear.
Some 600 local Algerian workers, less well guarded, survived.
A diplomatic source said Britain had not received any information to suggest the hostage situation had ended. "The situation is still really fluid on the ground. We have no information from the Algerian authorities that it's over."
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has canceled part of his trip in Southeast Asia, his first overseas trip since taking office, and will fly home early due to the hostage crisis, Japan's senior government spokesman said on Friday.
"The action of Algerian forces was regrettable," said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, adding Tokyo had not been informed of the operation in advance.
Americans, Romanians, and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured by the militants, who call themselves the "Battalion of Blood" and have demanded France end its week-old offensive in Mali.
Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational Islamist insurgency across the Sahara a conflict that prompted France to send hundreds of troops to Mali last week the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including the squad's leader.
The bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian, and a Frenchman all assumed to have been hostage-takers were found, the security source said.
The group had claimed to have dozens of guerrillas on site and it was unclear whether any militants had managed to escape.
The overall commander, Algerian officials said, was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Algeria's bloody civil war of the 1990s.
He appears not to have been present and has now risen in stature among a host of Saharan Islamists, flush with arms and fighters from chaotic Libya, whom Western powers fear could spread violence far beyond the desert.
"NO TO BLACKMAIL"
Algeria's government made clear it remains implacably at odds with Islamist guerrillas who remain at large in the south, years after the civil war in which some 200,000 people died. Communication Minister Mohamed Said repeated their refusal ever to negotiate with hostage-takers.
"We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite in the struggle against terrorism," he told APS news agency.
U.S. officials had no clear information on the fate of Americans, though a U.S. military drone had flown over the area.
Washington, like its European allies, has endorsed France's move to protect the Malian capital by mounting airstrikes last week and now sending 1,400 ground troops to attack Islamist rebels.
A U.S. official said on Thursday it would provide transport aircraft to help France with a mission whose vital importance, President Francois Hollande said, was demonstrated by the attack in Algeria. Some fear, however, that going on the offensive in the remote region could provoke more bloodshed closer to home.
The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions over the value of security measures that are outwardly draconian
35 killed in failed rescue attempt for hostages in Algeria/TRT-English
30 Hostages Reported Killed in Continuing Algerian Rescue Attempt
A rescue operation by the Algerian army failed and 35 hostages were killed.
Two people, one of them British and the other Algerian, lost their lives when a bus, carrying workers of a natural gas facility in the south of the country, close to the Libyan border, came under attack.
Tens of people, among them nationals of the USA, France, Britain, Japan and Norway, were taken hostage.
Militants who have ties to Mali's rebel Islamists, demanded that France end its military operation in Mali. They also wanted to escape from the Ain Amenas energy complex with the hostages. The Algerian government turned down the demand.
The armed group said the kidnappings were in retaliation for the Algerian support to French military intervention in Mali.
The rescue operation by the Algerian military against the Islamists who called themselves Masked Brigade failed. 35 hostages and 15 opposition members were killed in the operation carried out by helicopters.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Thirty hostages were killed, and at least 22 remained unaccounted for on Friday, after Algerian forces stormed a desert gas complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist gunmen, an operation which reportedly is continuing.
With Western leaders clamoring for details of the assault they said Algeria had launched on Thursday without consulting them, a local source said the gas base was still surrounded by Algerian special forces and some hostages remained inside.
Thirty hostages, including several Westerners, were killed during the storming on Thursday, the source said, along with at least 11 of their captors, who said they had taken the site as retaliation for French intervention against Islamists in neighboring Mali.
Fourteen Japanese were among those still unaccounted for by the early hours of Friday, their Japanese employer said, while Norwegian energy company Statoil which runs the Tigantourine gas field with Britain's BP and Algeria's national oil company said eight Norwegian employees were still missing.
An Irish engineer who survived said he saw four jeeps full of hostages blown up by Algerian troops whose commanders said they moved in about 30 hours after the siege began because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.
The crisis posed a serious dilemma for Paris and its allies as French troops attacked the hostage-takers' al-Qaida allies in Mali. It also left question marks over the ability of OPEC-member Algeria to protect vital energy resources and strained its relations with Western powers.
Two Japanese, two Britons, and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight dead hostages were Algerian.
The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear.
Some 600 local Algerian workers, less well guarded, survived.
A diplomatic source said Britain had not received any information to suggest the hostage situation had ended. "The situation is still really fluid on the ground. We have no information from the Algerian authorities that it's over."
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has canceled part of his trip in Southeast Asia, his first overseas trip since taking office, and will fly home early due to the hostage crisis, Japan's senior government spokesman said on Friday.
"The action of Algerian forces was regrettable," said Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, adding Tokyo had not been informed of the operation in advance.
Americans, Romanians, and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured by the militants, who call themselves the "Battalion of Blood" and have demanded France end its week-old offensive in Mali.
Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational Islamist insurgency across the Sahara a conflict that prompted France to send hundreds of troops to Mali last week the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including the squad's leader.
The bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian, and a Frenchman all assumed to have been hostage-takers were found, the security source said.
The group had claimed to have dozens of guerrillas on site and it was unclear whether any militants had managed to escape.
The overall commander, Algerian officials said, was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Algeria's bloody civil war of the 1990s.
He appears not to have been present and has now risen in stature among a host of Saharan Islamists, flush with arms and fighters from chaotic Libya, whom Western powers fear could spread violence far beyond the desert.
"NO TO BLACKMAIL"
Algeria's government made clear it remains implacably at odds with Islamist guerrillas who remain at large in the south, years after the civil war in which some 200,000 people died. Communication Minister Mohamed Said repeated their refusal ever to negotiate with hostage-takers.
"We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite in the struggle against terrorism," he told APS news agency.
U.S. officials had no clear information on the fate of Americans, though a U.S. military drone had flown over the area.
Washington, like its European allies, has endorsed France's move to protect the Malian capital by mounting airstrikes last week and now sending 1,400 ground troops to attack Islamist rebels.
A U.S. official said on Thursday it would provide transport aircraft to help France with a mission whose vital importance, President Francois Hollande said, was demonstrated by the attack in Algeria. Some fear, however, that going on the offensive in the remote region could provoke more bloodshed closer to home.
The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions over the value of security measures that are outwardly draconian
35 killed in failed rescue attempt for hostages in Algeria/TRT-English
30 Hostages Reported Killed in Continuing Algerian Rescue Attempt
