Algeria says hostages killed in military raid on gas field, militants 'neutralised'

Algeria says the military assault to free hostages being held by Islamic militants is continuing at a remote desert gas installation, while a French national tells how he hid under his bed for 40 hours before being rescued by soldiers amidst heavy exchanges of gunfire.

Alexandre Berceaux, an employee of CIS Catering at the desert gas complex, also told Europe 1 radio that the initial attack on the site was a surprise as the base was heavily guarded.

"There were intervals of heavy gunfire" on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed the base, he said.

"There are terrorists who are dead, expatriates, locals," Mr Berceaux said, adding that he had been taken to another nearby site and was unaware if the operation was continuing on Friday morning.

He said the hostage-taking on Wednesday had come as a complete shock.

"I heard an enormous amount of gunfire. The alarm telling us to stay where we were was going off. I didn't know if it was a drill or if it was real," he said.


"Nobody expected this. The site was protected. There were soldiers in place.
Algeria Kidnapping

A satellite image shows the Amenas Gas Field in Algeria where foreign hostages are held by al-Qaida-linked militants, with estimates for the number of dead vary wildly from four to dozens. Picture: DigitalGlobe

"I stayed hidden for nearly 40 hours in my room. I was under the bed and I put boards everywhere just in case. I had a bit of food, a bit to drink, I didn't know how long it would last."

Mr Berceaux said he was found during Thursday's assault by men he believed to be Algerian military.

"They were soldiers dressed in green. I think they were Algerian soldiers," he said.

"I recognised some of my colleagues with them, otherwise I would never have emerged.

"I've heard there was a wounded person in the restaurant storeroom yesterday morning. Three Englishmen who had hidden above the dropped ceiling were found along with this wounded person, who was taken directly to hospital.

"I think there are still people hidden. They are in the process of doing a count now."
Algeria Kidnapping

At a news stand in Algiers, a man reads a newspaper bearing the headline "Terrorist attack and kidnapping in In Amenas". Algeria's official news service claim hundreds of local workers and half the foreigners were rescued. Picture: Ouahab Hebbat

The state news agency, citing security officials, broadcast on radio that Algerian special forces have killed 18 militants and were continuing an assault Friday on the main gas plant.

Algeria's government has kept a tight grip on information, but it was clear that the militant assault that began Wednesday has killed at least six people from the factory - and perhaps many more.

Militants claimed that military helicopters opened fire Thursday when they were transporting hostages from the living quarters to the main factory area, and that 35 hostages and 15 militants died in the strafing.

Reports suggest the Algerian army attacked a militant convoy attempting to whisk hostages away from a remote oil processing plant.

Fears are held for the lives of more than 30 hostages after Irish Foreign Minister Eamon Gilmore confirmed an Irish hostage escaped from one of the vehicles during the attack. He said there were five vehicles, and Stephen McFaul's vehicle was the only one not to be "hit" in the attack.

Foreign governments have voiced growing alarm over the safety of their citizens seized by Islamists at a gas plant in the Algerian desert.
Tiguentourine

The Tiguentourine oil and gas facility in Algeria which has been captured by militants.

Local officials said Algerian special forces had taken control of the residential compound at the complex, where most of the hundreds of hostages were being held, but were still surrounding the gas facility which had not yet been secured.

There was no official confirmation of the number of hostages killed or injured in the rescue bid that began last night Australian time.

Defence Secretary Leon Panetta says the US is working with the British and Algerian governments to assess what's happening on the ground at the natural gas complex in the Sahara.

Speaking Friday at Kings College in London, Mr Panetta said the US is "working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens."

Mr Panetta says the terrorists should be on notice that they'll find no sanctuary in Algeria or North Africa.

He says anyone who looks to attack the US will have "no place to hide."
NIRELAND-BRITAIN-ALGERIA-MALI-KIDNAP

A family photograph of escaped Irish hostage Stephen McFaul, seen with his sons. Mr McFaul has contacted his family in Belfast to tell them he is safe, Ireland said. Picture: AFP/HO/Family album

Algerian media has reported that "hundreds" of plant works have been freed - including two from Scotland, one from France and one from Kenya.

Reuters reports Algerian sources as claiming two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed. At least eight Algerians were also killed, the source claims.

The Mauritanian news agency ANI reported that the chief hostage taker, Abu al-Baraa, had been killed .

"We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations," al-Baraa earlier told al-Jazeera news channel after the militants said on Wednesday they held 41 foreigners hostage.

But Algeria insisted it would not negotiate with "terrorists," and its forces launched a dramatic rescue operation on Thursday that resulted in the deaths of many hostages.

The military operation appeared to go on for some eight hours after Algeria refused the kidnappers' demand to leave the country with their hostages, the bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman were found.
Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike

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Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike

Reports suggest hostages, among dozens of locals and foreigners held at an Algerian oil plant, have escaped, while others have been killed ...
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The kidnappers claimed an air and ground assault on the In Amenas gas complex had left 34 hostages dead.

The militants said 15 of their number were also killed.

A foreign diplomat in Algiers confirmed the rescue mission "did not go too well for the hostages".

But at least one Irish family is overjoyed after receiving a phonecall from freed hostage Stephen McFaul.

The 36-year-old Irish electrician telephoned his wife earlier today to say he had escaped the custody of al-Qaida extremists after one day's captivity and was safe with Algerian security forces

"Angela (McFaul's wife) told me there is not a scratch on him," the Irish Foreign Minister Earmon Gilmore said, who added that McFaul was expected to fly home to Belfast later today
BP hostage raid Algeria

A photo of the In Amenas gas field in Algeria, where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign hostages on Wednesday. Picture: AFP/Statoil/Kjetil Alsvik

"It's been hard. I've tried to put a brave face on it," said McFaul's father, Christopher. "But not knowing what's happening out there - I feel sorry for the other hostages and their families, the ones who's still there and the ones who've been killed."

According to the Mauritanian news site militant leader al-Akhbar, Baraa was "one of the most important chiefs of the Mokhtar Belmokhtar brigade".

Al-Akbar said Baraa was also "probably of Algerian nationality," and said he was born in the late 1970s and became a member of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).

The Algerian government said it was forced to intervene due to the militants' stubbornness and their desire to escape with the hostages.

"An important number of hostages were freed and an important number of terrorists were eliminated, and we regret the few dead and wounded," Algerian Communications Minister Mohand Said Oubelaid told media, adding that the "terrorists are multinational," coming from several different countries with the goal of "destabilising Algeria, embroiling it in the Mali conflict and damaging its natural gas infrastructure".

Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia said the militants came from Libya.
In Amenas

"According to the information we have, the terrorist group which attacked the In Amenas site came from Libya," Kablia told the online edition of Algerian daily Echorouk.

Kablia had on Wednesday said that the kidnappers were from the region, denying that they came from Libya, or from Mali as some of them claimed.

The militants - reportedly led by the veteran jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar - had previously threatened to "eliminate" the hostages if they were attacked.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg would not criticise the Algerian operation but said he wished the Norwegian government would have been notified before it started.

He added that while Algeria has declined medical help, Norway will send a plane with medical equipment and personnel.

An unarmed US surveillance drone soared overhead as the Algerian forces closed in, US officials told the Associated Press.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar

This video grab shows former al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaking at an undisclosed location. Picture: AFP

The US offered military assistance to help rescue the hostages - whose numbers varied wildly from dozens to hundreds - but the Algerian government refused, a US official said in Washington DC, speaking on condition of anonymity.

British offers of assistance to Algeria in dealing with the situation were also declined.

British Prime Minister David Cameron was told the operation was under way only when he telephoned the Algerian prime minister at 1130 GMT (2230 AEDT).

Cameron made clear that he would have preferred to be informed in advance, but the Algerians said they had to act "immediately".

UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burt said: "Although details have yet to become final, I am afraid we should be under no illusion that there will be some bad and distressing news to follow from this terrorist attack".