Some hostages reported to escape Sahara siege
Source: Reuters
Some hostages were reported to have escaped from a remote Algerian gas plant on Thursday, where dozens of foreigners and scores of Algerians were seized by Islamist gunmen demanding a halt to a French military campaign in neighboring Mali.
Governments around the world were holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, which sharply raises the stakes over the week-old French campaign against al Qaeda-linked rebels in the Sahara.
Algeria's Ennahar television said 15 foreigners, including two French citizens, had escaped the besieged plant deep in the Sahara desert. About 40 Algerians had also been freed, mainly women working as translators, it said.
A security source told Reuters the captors, encircled by Algerian troops, were demanding safe passage out with their prisoners. Algeria has refused to negotiate.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/us-sahara-crisis-idUSBRE90F1JJ20130117
Foreign hostages escape Islamist captors: Algerian officials
Some hostages were reported to have escaped from a remote Algerian gas plant on Thursday, where dozens of foreigners and scores of Algerians were seized by Islamist gunmen demanding a halt to a French military campaign in neighbouring Mali.
According to an Algerian official, 20 foreign hostages, including Americans, escaped from their captors.
Governments around the world were holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, which sharply raises the stakes over the week-old French campaign against al Qaeda-linked rebels in the Sahara.
A group calling itself the Battalion of Blood says it seized 41 foreigners, including Americans, Japanese and Europeans, after storming a natural gas pumping station and employee barracks before dawn on Wednesday.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/foreign-hostages-including-americans-escape-islamist-captors-algerian-officials/article7460056/
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)Two Algerian army helicopters attacked the gas complex where Islamists have seized dozens of foreigners and Algerians, injuring two of the Japanese hostages, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported, citing one of the kidnappers.
It was not possible to independently verify the report.
ANI has close contacts with the al Qaeda-linked group that has claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping in retaliation for France's attack on Islamists in neighboring Mali.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/17/us-algeria-hostages-attack-idUSBRE90G0KI20130117
Bosonic
(3,746 posts)UK's Cameron says must prepare for bad news regarding hostages in Algeria http://bit.ly/USxxHN
https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/291980083336454144