Algeria crisis: 'Captors and hostages die in assault'

[muriel_volestrangler]

Source: BBC

Eleven hostage-takers have been killed as Algerian troops launched a final raid on a Sahara gas plant where foreign workers were being held captive, state news agency APS said.

Seven hostages were summarily killed by their captors as the troops tried to free them, the agency said.
...
APS has previously said 12 Algerian and foreign workers have been killed since rescue efforts began.

About 30 foreigners remain unaccounted for, including fewer than 10 from the UK.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21101092

---

More from Reuters:

"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source familiar with the operation told Reuters.
...
Earlier on Saturday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source told Reuters, and it was not clear how they had died.

Sixteen foreign hostages were freed on Saturday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese.
...
Two Norwegians were released overnight, leaving six unaccounted for, while Romania said three of its nationals had been freed. A number of Japanese engineering workers were still unaccounted for.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/19/us-sahara-crisis-idUSBRE90F1JJ20130119

[Coyotl]

1. Report: 7 hostages killed as Algerian forces launch new assault

Report: 7 hostages killed as Algerian forces launch new assault
By Laura Smith-Spark, CNN 9:26 AM EST, Sat January 19, 2013
http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/19/world/africa/algeria-hostage-crisis/index.html

(CNN) -- Seven hostages and 11 militants were killed Saturday when the Algerian military launched an attack on a remote Algerian gas plant overrun by a terrorist group, according to state media.

The Algerian Radio report did not specify the nationalities of those killed.

The number of foreign hostages is still unknown four days into the crisis, which began when Islamist militants attacked the sprawling site Wednesday.

State media said Friday that 30 or more foreigners were unaccounted for.

Survivors who've made their way to freedom have described harrowing escapes ................

[dipsydoodle]

2. Algeria hostage crisis: UK ambassador to fly to plant

The UK ambassador is to fly to a gas plant in Algeria amid reports that seven hostages and 11 hostage-takers have died in an Algerian army attack.

The ambassador, along with a small consular and political team, will be flying to In Amenas, the town close to the plant to give consular support.

As reports of the assault emerged, the foreign secretary said under 10 Britons were at risk or unaccounted for.

But William Hague said we should still "prepare ourselves for bad news".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21101242

[UnrepentantLiberal]

3. A brutal way to go about it but it will make al Qaeda think twice

about taking hostages in Algeria.

[dipsydoodle]

5. I would doubt that.

This was an Algerian splinter group who seem to be prepared to die anyway. Their leader wasn't present.

[totodeinhere]

24. Right. If anything they will be happy to promote their "martyrs" who died in this attack. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

28. Thats the way it goes

and with which they are happy.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

6. Everybody brandishes "al Qaeda" the same way they used to say "Communist".

It's a great way to get the United States to send money.

Tell the sad tale of being attacked by "al Qaeda" when it's some local group pissed off over a repressive regime.

We saw that all through Central America in the 80's.

[Archae]

7. Sounds more like this group is motivated more by money.

Their leader (safely in Mali, naturally,) had been thrown out of one Al-Qaeda group for doing more to enrich himself than to savance their "cause."

[Spitfire of ATJ]

11. It's like Jamal al-Fadl...

The guy the US paid to be an informant. He had stolen money from bin Laden and was more than willing to lie on the stand.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

18. This guy had them all going.

Notice you don't hear much about him? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ali_Mohamed

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. Speaking of,....

.....nothing says "take on the government" like an assault rifle....

[UnrepentantLiberal]

23. He looks as stylish with that as John Lennon did with his 1958 Rickenbacker 325.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

30. At least the mob used violin cases....

[Turbineguy]

32. Pediatricians like him

need assault weapons.

Ayman Mohammed Rabie "Do No Harm" al-Zawahiri

[UnrepentantLiberal]

8. Sounds like al Qaeda to me.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/world/africa/algeria-militants-hostages.html

An Algerian who managed to escape told France 24 television late Friday night, that the kidnappers said the had "come in the name of Islam, to teach the Americans what Islam is." The haggard-looking Algerian, interviewed at the airport in Algiers, said the kidnappers then immediately executed five hostages.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Actually, it sounds like a bunch of nutcases....

They are despised by actual followers of Islam.

There's absolutely NO evidence that the United States faces a threat from a massive world-wide organization....

....I mean,....if you don't count Big Oil....

[UnrepentantLiberal]

12. I couldn't agree more.

If I could make it happen I'd pull all of our military out of every country in the world. South Korea, Japan, Germany... Everywhere. Take all of that money we're wasting and spend it on nation building OUR country.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

14. We still have "Hunt for Red October" war games being fought by our sub fleet...

Right now they're playing cat and mouse games flying through trenches in the Atlantic and Pacific avoiding fantasy Soviet subs.

A TOTAL waste of money and flat out absurd.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

15. 1) We have nuclear weapons. No one will invade us.

2) Since the little countries we invade can be neutered in a matter of days, there is no reason to continue to build ever more expensive and sophisticated jets, subs, ships, tanks and weapons systems.

3) All of the above are sold on the open market. No one is going to blow by us like they did in the 30s.

This country is completely out of control. I've given up thinking it can be fixed.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

16. "I've given up thinking it can be fixed."

Actually, the fact is that more people are talking about a bloated Pentagon budget.

The phrase "gutting the military" has lost it's sting.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

17. But the politicians would have to do it.

Almost all of them are beholden to corporations. They want the money coming into their state and they want their campaigns financed. Almost all of them see themselves as a possible candidate for president (with the massive amount of corporate backing that requires). This is why the bills that make it through congress are so weak and loaded with pork. No one wants to mess with another's cash cow.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

29. They used to call that "Graft". Now it's "the way it works".

[Coyotl]

4. Algerian Hostages: Dead US Hostage Identified as Fred Buttaccio

Algerian Hostages: Dead US Hostage Identified as Fred Buttaccio
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/algerian-hostages-dead-us-hostage-identified-fred-buttaccio/story?id=18256933
By BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) , MEGAN CHUCHMACH (@megcourtney) and DANA HUGHES (@dana_hughes)
Jan. 19, 2013

The death toll at a Algerian gas plant where al Qaeda-linked terrorists took hostages continues to climb, with at least one American and 11 other hostages now reported to have been killed.

The Algerian military has twice stormed the In Amenas natural gas facility but authorities say the situation is still not resolved, and on Saturday a number of Western workers, including Americans, apparently remained hostages.

The State Department has confirmed that 58-year-old Fred Buttaccio of suburban Houston was killed at some point during the attack and subsequent rescue efforts.

.....

The attack has led the US and its allies to marshal resources to track down the alleged mastermind, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who operates from a safe haven in the northern part of the country of Mali, a thousand miles away.

French military aircraft were already taking action against Belmokhtar even before the Algerian attack, according to ABC News correspondent Bazi Kanani, who is in Mali's capital, Bamako. .....

[Purveyor]

9. AP: Algerian Assault Ends Crisis, 19 Hostages Dead

AIN AMENAS, Algeria (AP) — Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert on Saturday in a "final assault" that ended a four-day-old hostage crisis, according to the state news agency and two foreign governments. At least 19 hostages and 29 Islamist militants have been killed.

The report, quoting a security source, didn't say whether any hostages or militants remained alive, and it didn't give the nationalities of the dead.

It said the army was forced to intervene after a fire broke out in the plant and said the militants killed the hostages. It wasn't immediately possible to verify who killed the captives.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/19/algeria-hostages-militants-dead/1847203/

[TwilightGardener]

13. It's hard to know how this could have gone, otherwise.

It's a shame, but I don't think there was much that any other country could have done about it--Algeria is a sovereign country and handled it its own way.

[Comrade Grumpy]

20. Well, they could have tried negotiating.

But the Algerian workers mostly got away unharmed, and who cares about a bunch of foreign nationals, right?

[totodeinhere]

25. Their stated policy is no negotiations with terrorists because all that does is enable them.

I'm not sure if I agree with that but that is their rationale for this.

[dipsydoodle]

19. Final death toll from Algeria attack.

Final death toll from Algeria attack is 32 militants and 23 hostages killed - Algerian interior ministry.

On tickers of both Reuters and BBC News.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

21. Message: "Don't take hostages... it won't save you."

"If you take hostages to use as human bullet shields, then we will drop bombs"

[Special Agent Oso]

26. I've heard several different number of Americans present during the kidnapping

It's all so confusing.

[John2]

27. People go

to these countries to work for money. I would not go to any country in the Middle East to work for money knowing the dangers of that region. I wouldn't go to Africa either unless it was a stabilized country. The only reason I would do it is if it was a military mission. That is the bottomline. The corporation was supposedly BP and they should have had armed protection for their employees. The stockholders, CEOs and Algerian Government should bare all the responsibilty.

[Arctic Dave]

31. Interesting, not a single Algerian military casualty.

They must be bulletproof.

[Amonester]

33. Because these hostage takers were really just a bunch of cowards.

When they realized their foolish plans weren't working, they executed their victims in cold blood and ran away (prolly) hoping they would escape.

[daleo]

34. Were you there?

Because you seem to have remarkably detailed knowledge.

[Arctic Dave]

35. Ummmm.

Yeah, thanks for the commentary.

[Special Agent Oso]

36. Are there any americans missing?

?

[reorg]

37. Algeria siege toll climbs past 80

The death toll from the terrorist siege at a natural gas plant in the Sahara climbed past 80 on Sunday as Algerian forces searching the refinery for explosives found dozens more bodies, many so badly disfigured it was unclear whether they were hostages or militants, a security official said.

Algerian special forces stormed the plant on Saturday to end the four-day siege, moving in to thwart what government officials said was a plot by the Islamic extremists to blow up the complex and kill all their captives with mines sown throughout the site.

In a statement, the Masked Brigade, the group that claimed to have masterminded the takeover, 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.

“We stress to our Muslim brothers the necessity to stay away from all the Western companies and complexes for their own safety, and especially the French ones,” the statement said.

The Hindu

Algeria crisis: Hostage death toll 'rises to 48'

At least 48 hostages are now thought to have died in a four-day siege at an Algerian gas plant, as reports say that 25 bodies found at the complex on Sunday were all those of captives.

It had initially been unclear whether the bodies found were those of hostage-takers or staff at the facility.

A day earlier, Algerian officials reported the deaths of 23 hostages, saying many more were unaccounted for.

Five suspected Islamist attackers were reportedly arrested on Sunday.

The Algerian authorities had said on Saturday that all 32 hostage-takers had been killed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-21114512