Algeria's special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the middle of the Sahara desert today, killing 11 militants, but not before they in turn killed seven hostages, the state news agency reported.
The report, quoting a security source, didn't specify if any hostages or militants remained alive or give the nationalities of the dead.
Algerian authorities estimated that around 30 militants occupied the Ain Amenas site on Wednesday and 18 had already been reported dead.
There was no official count of how many hostages were still being held by the final group of militants holed up in the gas refinery on Saturday, but the militants themselves had reported they were still holding three Belgian, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton.
The plant is jointly run by BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state-owned oil company.
The militants attacked the plant Wednesday morning, creeping across the border from Libya, 100 kilometres from the natural gas plant, and fell on a pair of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses' military escort drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over the heads of the crouching workers. A Briton and an Algerian, probably a security guard, were killed.
An international outcry mounted over the Algerians' handling of the crisis. Experts noted that this is how they have always dealt with militants, refusing to negotiate.
Casualty figures vary widely
The standoff has put the spotlight on militancy plaguing the region and al-Qaeda-linked groups roaming remote areas from Mali to Libya, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests.
Casualty figures varied widely. The Algerian government previously said 12 hostages and 18 militants died in a military attack on a convoy of militants Thursday. The militants claimed that 35 hostages were killed, according to a Mauritanian website, ANI, that is close to the extremists.
At least one American, from Texas, is among the dead, and the militants offered to trade two American hostages for two terrorists behind bars in the U.S., an offer firmly rejected by Washington. Britons, French and Algerians have also died in the standoff.
On Saturday, a source familiar with the situation said Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant, Reuters reported.
French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian confirmed on TV Saturday morning that one Frenchman had been killed, and that others had been freed, the CBC's Anna Cunningham reported from Paris. He added that, as far as they know, there are no more French hostages at the gas plant.
Canadian employee at gas plant safe
The Canadian government said it's aware of reports a Canadian may be among the al-Qaeda-linked militants who are holding hostages at the remote natural gas complex.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said Friday it's in close contact with Algerian authorities about what it condemns as a "deplorable and cowardly attack."
Unidentified rescued hostages in Ain Amenas, Algeria, in an image taken from television Friday Jan. 18. (Canal Algerie/Associated Press) In a report Thursday, Mauritania's state-owned ANI news agency said the hostage-takers came from Algeria, Canada, Mali, Egypt, Niger and Mauritania.
"We are aware of reports that a Canadian may have been involved in the hostage-taking in Algeria," Department of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Chrystiane Roy told CBC News on Friday. "We are pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and are in close contact with Algerian authorities."
Meanwhile, a Canadian who was among the employees at the facility when it was attacked Wednesday is safe.
Hostages forced to wear a 'bomb necklace'
The attack by the Mali-based Masked Brigade had been in the works for two months, a member of the brigade told the online Mauritanian news outlet. He said militants targeted Algeria because they expected the country to support the international effort to root out extremists in neighboring Mali.
Hundreds of Algerian and foreign workers have been freed, some describing being used as human shields and having explosives strapped around their necks after the militants burst into the plant on Wednesday.
An unidentified hostage rescued from the standoff at Algeria's Ain Amenas plant receives treatment in a hospital Ain Amenas, Algeria in this image taken from television on Friday. (Canal Algerie via Associated Press TV) Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp, described the bloody aftermath of Algerian helicopter gunship barrage on vehicles carrying hostages and the gunmen, which he narrowly escaped.
His wife, Hedelyn Andrada, said she received a text message from her husband Wednesday saying there was gunfire near their housing complex at the site. He later told her that he and about 35 others, including seven other Filipinos, were seized by gunmen and made to wear a "bomb necklace."
On Thursday, all the hostages, about 35, were loaded into seven SUVs in a convoy that included 15 militants from the housing complex and used as human shields. He said they were being moved to the gas plant itself when the convoy was chased by army helicopters that fired on the vehicles.
Andrada told The Associated Press that at that moment he closed his eyes, and was waiting for a bullet to hit him. Militants on a back of the vehicle he was in were firing their machine guns at the helicopter, while explosions reverberated all around them.
He later saw the blasted remains of other vehicles, and the severed leg of one of the gunmen. Another hostage who survived, an Irish man, reported seeing a severed head from one of the vehicles.
2 more Norwegian workers escape: Statoil CEO
Andrada said their vehicle separated from the convoy and overturned, allowing him and the others inside to escape. He suffered cuts and bruises and was grazed by a bullet on his right elbow.
They were taken to the Alazhar hospital in Algiers. He said the others suffered more serious injuries and were in the intensive care unit. He said the Algerian defense minister came to visit him in the hospital and apologized.
Philippines Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said 34 Filipino workers have been evacuated from the gas field and flown to Spain for repatriation to the Philippines.
By Friday, around 100 of the 135 foreign workers on the site had been freed and 18 of an estimated 30 kidnappers had been slain, according to the Algerian government, still leaving a major hostage situation centered on the plant's main refinery.
Statoil CEO Helge Lund said Saturday that two more Norwegian workers have escaped from the plant and are safe, leaving six more Norwegians unaccounted for. There were 17 Norwegians at the plant at the time of the attack.
Meanwhile, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague chaired another emergency cabinet meeting on Saturday, and said the crisis was now the U.K. government's top priority.
With files from CBC NewsAnda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Algerian army storms besieged gas plant, leaving 18 dead
Dengan url
http://topstorinfo.blogspot.com/2013/01/algerian-army-storms-besieged-gas-plant.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Algerian army storms besieged gas plant, leaving 18 dead
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Algerian army storms besieged gas plant, leaving 18 dead
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar