Algeria hostage crisis ends in bloodbath
ALGERIAN troops have stormed a remote gas plant to end a hostage crisis that killed 23 foreigners and Algerians, seven of them executed by their Islamist captors in a final military assault.
Twenty-one hostages died during the siege that began when the al-Qa’ida-linked gunmen attacked the In Amenas facility deep in the Sahara desert at dawn on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
Thirty-two kidnappers were also killed, and special forces were able to free “685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners”, it said.
Among the dead were an unknown number of foreigners — including from Britain, France, Romania and the US — and many were still unaccounted for, including Japanese.
A Japanese engineering firm says that 10 Japanese and seven foreign workers remain unaccounted.
JGC said it had confirmed the safety of 61 of 78 workers.
“We have newly confirmed the safety of 41 of our workers but the safety of the remaining 10 Japanese and seven foreign workers is yet to be confirmed,” JGC spokesman Takeshi Endo said.
The kidnappers led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former al-Qa’ida commander in North Africa, killed two people on a bus, a Briton and an Algerian, before taking hundreds of workers hostage when they overran the gas plant.
Belmokhtar’s “Signatories in Blood” group had been demanding an end to French military intervention against jihadists in neighbouring Mali.
In Saturday’s assault, “the Algerian army took out 11 terrorists, and the terrorist group killed seven foreign hostages”, state television said, without giving a breakdown of their nationalities.
A security official who spoke to AFP as army helicopters overflew the plant gave the same death tolls, adding it was believed the foreigners were executed “in retaliation”.
As experts began to clear the complex of bombs planted by the Islamists, residents of In Amenas breathed a collective sigh of relief.
“We went from a peaceful situation to a terror situation,” said one resident who gave his name as Fouad.
“The plant could have exploded and taken out the town,” said another.
Brahim Zaghdaoui said he was not surprised by the Algerian army’s ruthless final assault.
“It was predictable that it would end like that,” he said standing outside the town’s hospital, where coffins were seen arriving in the morning.
Most of the hostages had been freed on Thursday when Algerian forces launched a rescue operation, which was widely condemned as hasty.
But French President Francois Hollande and US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta refused to blame Algeria.
The response by Algiers was “the most appropriate” given it was dealing with “coldly determined terrorists ready to kill their hostages”, said Mr Hollande.
Mr Panetta added: “They are in the region, they understand the threat from terrorism … I think it’s important that we continue to work with (Algiers) to develop a regional approach.”
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“The kidnappers led by Algerian Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a former al-Qa’ida commander in North Africa”
north africa means libya..these are the same guys that the west backed in libya who, now armed to the teeth, are doing whatever they want..thats why they were quick to say its about mali.. because it wasnt..its a spillover from libya..
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Yep same guys that are terrorists that the U.S. backed in Libya. What a fucking joke. They tell us that we are the good guys, but we are the bad guys, so who is fighting for who and who is the good guys and bad guys? I am so confused! Then people wonder why everyone in the world hates the U.S. so much…look no further! We created Al Qa’ida. We create our enemies!
its a big merry go round!