Report: 34 of 41 Hostages Killed in Algeria – 2 Americans Survive Raid – One American

[Wehrwolfen]

Report: 34 of 41 Hostages Killed in Algeria – 2 Americans Survive Raid – One American Escapes​

by Jim Hoft
January 17, 2013

Algerian troops have surrounded the Islamist gunmen who kidnapped workers from the Amenas gas field in Algeria. (Reuters)

According to Mauritania’s ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the kidnappers, 34 of 41 hostaged were killed yesterday at a Algerian gas plant.


Reuters reported:

Many people were killed when Algerian forces opened fire on a vehicle at a remote gas plant where gunmen were holding dozens of Western hostages, a resident of the locality and Arab news reports said on Thursday.

The resident, who asked not to be identified, said there were many bodies at the scene. He did not give firm numbers of the dead or say whether they were kidnappers, hostages or both.

Mauritania’s ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the kidnappers, reported that 34 of the captives and 15 of the captors had been killed when government forces fired from helicopters while the kidnappers were trying to move some of their prisoners.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera television carried a similar report. Those details could not be immediately confirmed.​

The Algerian government rejected a demand from the Islamist militants who seized Westerners at the plant for safe passage to nearby Libya.


[Excerpt]

Read more:
Report: 34 of 41 Hostages Killed in Algeria ? 2 Americans Survive Raid ? One American Escapes | The Gateway Pundit

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Good thing that war on terrorism is over and Al Qaida has been defeated…..​

Drudge headlines:


REPORT:

Hostages held in Algeria killed…
BLOODBATH: Helicopters strafe gas plant in desert…
Fate of 7 Kidnapped Americans Unknown…
Hostages ‘made to wear explosives’…
Obama, Clinton Silent on Crisis…
LATEST: Some ‘escape Islamist captors’…
Gunmen dubbed ‘Signatories for Blood’…
One-eyed Jihadi leader…
Retaliation for France intervention in Mali…​

Good thing that war on terrorism is over and Al Qaida has been defeated?.. | Flopping Aces

 

[Politico]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

 

[jwoodie]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

...And this makes you happy?

 

[waltky]

Granny says send in Navy Seal Team 6!...

Algeria mulls international force for hostages
17 Jan.`13 — Algeria's government searched desperately Thursday for a way to end a desert standoff with Islamic militants who have taken dozens of foreigners hostage at a natural gas complex, turning to tribal leaders among Algerian Tuaregs and contemplating an international force.

The government was in talks throughout the night with the U.S. and France over whether international forces could help against the militants, who have said 41 foreigners, including seven Americans, were being held after the assault on one of oil-rich Algeria's energy facilities, 800 miles from the capital of Algiers. Two foreigners, one of them a Briton, were killed. The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the attack, said Algerian officials also contacted tribal elders among Algerian Tuaregs, who are believed to have close ties with Islamist militants linked to al-Qaida. The official said the government hoped the Tuaregs might help negotiate an end to the standoff.

The group claiming responsibility — called Katibat Moulathamine or the Masked Brigade — said the attack Wednesday was in revenge for Algeria's support of France's military operation against al-Qaida-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. Militants phoned a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation at the Ain Amenas gas field, and that France should end its intervention in Mali to ensure the safety of the hostages. But the militants themselves appeared to have no escape, cut off by surrounding troops and army helicopters overhead. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said it seemed the militants were hoping to negotiate their departure from the area — a notion he rejected. He also dismissed theories that the militants had come from Libya, a mere 60 miles (100 kilometers) away, or from Mali, more than 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) away.

BP, the Norwegian company Statoil and the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, operate the gas field. A Japanese company, JGC Corp, provides services for the facility as well. It was not immediately possible to account for the discrepancies in the number of reported hostages. Their identities also were not clear, but Ireland announced that they included a 36-year-old married Irish man. Japan, Britain and the U.S. said their citizens were taken. A Norwegian woman said her husband called her saying that he had been taken hostage.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told BBC radio on Thursday that he has dispatched a team to Algeria to help at the British embassy there. "Excuses being used by terrorists and murderers who are involved — there is no excuse for such behaviour, whatever excuse they may claim," he said. "It is absolutely unacceptable, of course. It is, in this case, the cold-blooded murder of people going about their business. So there is no excuse, whether it be connected to Libya, Mali or anywhere else."

More Algeria mulls international force for hostages - Yahoo! News

See also:

Fears for hostages as Algeria attacks gas complex – live updates
• Reports of deaths of hostages and kidnappers • Official Algerian news says military operation over • Irishman free and has made contact with family

The gas field at In Amenas accounts for 18% of Algeria's total gas exports, Le Monde reports. Gas flows from the country to Europe via the Transmed pipeline. Italian officials told the French newspaper that exports from Algeria fell 17% on Thursday, one day after the plant was taken over. An analyst with Societe Generale estimated the value of the facility's output at $3.9bn annually.

Quoting an unnamed Algerian security source, Reuters reports that 30 hostages were killed in the gas plant attack, including at least 7 foreigners. The report does not give the nationalities of the foreigners who died.

Eleven militants from six different countries – including one from France – also were killed, the report says. The militants' nationalities were given as 3 Egyptians, 2 Algerians, 2 Tunisians, 2 Libyans a Frenchman and a Malian.

MORE

 

[Sallow]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

You must have missed the Russian attempt to rescue school kids from Chechen terrorists.

That, was a real clusterfuck.

 

[RoadVirus]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

Don't you mean Russia?

Moscow Theater hostage crisis: 170 dead (130 hostages)

 

[Wehrwolfen]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

Don't you mean Russia?

Moscow Theater hostage crisis: 170 dead (130 hostages)

Hmm..., Don't they have complete gun control there? How did that work out? Only the Russian Mafia, Checchian terrorists and the government have guns.

 

[waltky]

Update: Standoff in the Sahara...

Algeria: Day 4 of hostage standoff at Sahara plant
19 Jan.`13 — Faced with international outrage over the killing of hostages at a sprawling gas plant in the middle of the Sahara desert, Algeria was under pressure to bring an end to a four-day standoff with Islamist extremists that has killed at least 12 captives and left dozens unaccounted for.

The standoff has put the spotlight on militancy plaguing the region and al-Qaida-linked groups roaming remote areas from Mali to Libya, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests. With little official information emerging from the Algerian government about why it is taking so long to end the operation near the Libyan border, a freed hostage described the harrowing moments of his escape Saturday.

Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp, told The Associated Press that an Algerian helicopter gunship opened fire on vehicles carrying hostages and the gunmen who used them as shields. On Thursday, about 35 hostages were loaded into seven SUVs in a convoy that included 15 militants from the housing complex, Andrada said. The militants placed "an explosive cord" around their necks and were told they would explode if they tried to run away, he said.

Later, they were being moved to the gas plant itself when the convoy was chased by army helicopters that fired on the vehicles, he said. "When we left the compound, there was shooting all around," Andrada said. "I closed my eyes. We were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate. "The gunman behind me was shooting at the gunship and it was very loud. Then we made a sudden left turn and our Land Cruiser fell on the right side where I was. "I was pinned down by the guy next to me. I could hear the helicopter hovering above. I was just waiting for a bullet from the helicopter to hit me." 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 people in the vehicles. Andrada's account closely matches that of the Irishman's.

Andrada said their vehicle separated from the convoy and overturned, allowing him and the others inside to escape. He sustained 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 sustained 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. An international outcry mounted over the Algerians' handling of the crisis. Experts noted that this is how they have always dealt with terrorists.

More Algeria: Day 4 of hostage standoff at Sahara plant - Yahoo! News

See also:

Algeria hostage situation reportedly comes to violent end, as Panetta says much of situation remains 'sketchy'
January 19, 2013 - Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked terror group that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

A senior U.S. tells Fox News that details of the siege remain unclear. It is not known whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday -- seven -- was how many the militants had said that morning they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remain unaccounted for. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said much remains "sketchy" about what happened at the remote Ain Amenas gas field. "We know that lives have been lost," he said. Asked how many Americans were in danger and what happened to them, Panetta said he knew Americans were still being held hostage earlier Saturday. On what happened to them, he said, "we need to get better information."

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape. Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation -- first on Thursday, then on Saturday. "To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted response to the crisis." "There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.

Read more: Algeria hostage situation reportedly comes to violent end, as Panetta says much of situation remains 'sketchy' | Fox News

 

[Mustang]

Finally America no longer holds the record for most boneheaded rescue fail opertaion.

The Algerians didn't give a damn about the hostages. They just wanted the gas plant back in operation. And if the hostages had to die in order to accomplish that goal...so be it.

 

[waltky]

Uh-oh, looks like dat one backfired...

State Dept: ‘The U.S. Does Not Negotiate with Terrorists'
January 18, 2013 - The State Department was firm on Friday, when reporters asked whether the U.S. government was considering releasing Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, commonly known as “the Blind Sheikh,” the mastermind behind the 1993 World Trade Center attack.

“The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. In an Algerian gas field named Ain Amenas on Wednesday, a group of Islamist militants known only as the “Masked Brigade,” took hostage over 30 individuals from the US and elsewhere who work at the facility.

According to reports, the militants have offered to release two American hostages in exchange for the U.S. releasing the Blind Sheikh from federal prison, as well as Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani neuroscientist who is serving a life sentence for the attempted murder of U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

Nuland, pressed by a reporter who asked -- “The terrorists are asking for the release of Omar Abdel-Rahman and Aafia Siddiqui from the US prisons. Do you have any reaction to that?” – simply repeated her stand. “I’ll say it again -- the United States does not negotiate with terrorists,” she said.

Throughout the press conference, Nuland reiterated several times her current inability to go into details about the situation on the ground, and the American hostages who were taken. “I’m not going to speak about any Americans, the conditions that they find themselves in until we’re able to speak about the entire situation, which we’re not at this stage,” Nuland said in response to a questions about the situation in Algeria.

State Dept: ?The U.S. Does Not Negotiate with Terrorists' | CNS News

See also:

Algerian stance spoils U.S. strategy for region
January 19, 2013 — The hostage crisis in Algeria has upended the Obama administration’s strategy for coordinating an international military campaign against al-Qaida fighters in North Africa, leaving U.S., European and African leaders even more at odds over how to tackle the problem.

For months, U.S. officials have intensively lobbied Algeria — whose military is by far the strongest in North Africa — to help intervene in next-door Mali, where jihadists and other rebels have established a well-defended base of operations. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and other high-ranking U.S. officials made repeated visits to Algiers in the fall in a bid to persuade the oil-rich country to contribute troops to a U.N.-backed military force in Mali.

But Algeria’s unilateral decision to attack kidnappers at a natural gas plant — while shunning outside help, imposing a virtual information blackout and disregarding international pleas for caution — has dampened hopes that it might cooperate militarily in Mali, U.S. officials said. The crisis has strained ties between Algiers and Washington and increased doubts about whether Algeria can be relied upon to work regionally to dismantle al-Qaeda’s franchise in North Africa. “The result is that the U.S. will have squandered six to eight months of diplomacy for how it wants to deal with Mali,” said Geoff D. Porter, an independent North African security analyst. “At least it will have been squandered in the sense that the Algerians will likely double down on their recalcitrance to get involved. They’ve already put themselves in a fortress-like state.”

Obama administration officials have said that a multinational military intervention is necessary to stabilize Mali but that such a campaign must be led by African countries and is unlikely to succeed without Algerian involvement. Algeria’s military is the heavyweight of the region, and its intelligence services are the most knowledgeable about the murky Islamist networks that have taken root. Algeria is also the birthplace of al-Qaida’s affiliate in North Africa, known as al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. Most of the group’s leaders and allies are Algerian, including the suspected ringleader of the hostage plot, a one-eyed desert bandit named Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The group has expanded its activities beyond Algeria to Mali, Mauritania and Niger. But Algeria has been reluctant to fight AQIM outside its borders. The reasons are complex, but Algerian leaders say they are under little obligation to help other countries facing the problem — such as Mali — given that no one came to their aid in the 1990s when they fought their own grueling civil war against insurgents.

U.S. officials offer mixed reviews of Washington’s overall ties with Algiers on counter-terrorism. One senior U.S. diplomat, speaking on the condition of anonymity to talk freely about the relationship, called it “solid, not spectacular. It’s not carte blanche by any stretch of the imagination.” As the extremist threat has become more acute in recent years, the U.S. military has repeatedly pressed Algeria for overflight permission so its long-range reconnaissance planes can reach northern Mali from U.S. bases in Europe.

MORE

Related:

Obama says US ready to assist Algerian officials
Jan 19,`13 WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Barack Obama said Saturday the U.S. stands ready to provide whatever assistance Algerian officials need in the aftermath of the deadly terrorist attack at a natural gas complex in the Sahara.

The four-day standoff appeared to end Saturday after Algerian special forces stormed the complex. The clash left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said. In a statement from the White House, Obama said the blame lay with the militants and that the United States condemns their actions. "This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al-Qaida and other violent extremist groups in North Africa," Obama said. "In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

Earlier Saturday, during a news conference in London with Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, British Defense Minister Philip Hammond called the loss of life appalling and unacceptable. "It is the terrorists that bear the sole responsibility," Hammond told reporters.

Hammond didn't criticize Algeria's handling of the attack directly, but he appeared to reference the increased concern from world leaders about the lack of transparency in Algeria's anti-terror operation. "Different countries have different approaches to dealing with these things," he said. "But the nature of collaboration in confronting a global threat is that we work with people sometimes who do things somewhat different, slightly differently from the way we do them ourselves."

Panetta said that "those who would wantonly attack our country and our people will have no place to hide." "Just as we cannot accept terrorism attacks against our cities, we cannot accept attacks against our citizens and our interests abroad," he said.

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