Islamist militants take hostages in Algeria

[TheCommandTent]

Islamist militants from Mali have attacked and taken control of a natural gas field partly owned by BP in southern Algeria, killing two and reportedly taking 41 people hostage, including seven Americans.

A group called the Katibat Moulathamine, or the Masked Brigade, called a Mauritanian news outlet to say one of its subsidiaries had carried out the operation on the Ain Amenas gas field, taking 41 hostages from nine or 10 different nationalities.

The group's claim could not be independently substantiated and typically there would be fewer than 20 foreign staff members on site on a typical day, along with hundreds of Algerian employees.

The group said the attack was in revenge for Algeria's support of France's operation against Al Qaeda-linked Malian rebels groups far to the southeast.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/16/islamist-militants-from-mali-reportedly-kidnap-8-foreigners-at-algerian-gas-1052027220/#ixzz2I9oYXhGv

This news is just breaking.  It will be interesting to see how this develops but I can not see this coming out to a good conclusion.

[Jarhead0331]

This news is just breaking.  It will be interesting to see how this develops but I can not see this coming out to a good conclusion.

Hopefully it will  end with a lot of dead terrorists.

[Longdan]

I think it is a given.  I hope too many other people don't get dead.
Bad for business.

[Centurion40]

This news is just breaking.  It will be interesting to see how this develops but I can not see this coming out to a good conclusion.

Hopefully it will  end with a lot of dead terrorists.

Well said.

[LongBlade]

This news is just breaking.  It will be interesting to see how this develops but I can not see this coming out to a good conclusion.

Hopefully it will  end with a lot of dead terrorists.

Well said.

+1

[TheCommandTent]

At least 20 foreign hostages, including some Americans, escaped Thursday from an Al Qaeda-linked group who had taken over an Algerian natural gas complex in the Sahara desert, a security official reported.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

Some of the Americans believed to have escaped have called home to their families, U.S. official sources tell Fox News.

The U.S. State Department is working to account for all of the Americans reported missing.

At least 20 gunmen attacked the vast complex early Wednesday in retaliation for France's military intervention against Al Qaeda-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. Militants phoned a Mauritanian news outlet Wednesday to say one of its affiliates had carried out the operation and that France should end its intervention in Mali to ensure the safety of the hostages.

The militants, who claimed to have 41 hostages, have been in a tense standoff since then, surrounded by the Algerian military, which has helicopters flying over the Ain Amenas gas plant, 800 miles south of the capital of Algiers.

Some 30 Algerian workers fled the complex earlier in the day, suggesting that the militants are having trouble managing the many hostages they have taken at the gas complex, the third largest in oil-rich Algeria.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/17/us-france-reportedly-in-talks-with-algeria-over-hostage-standoff/#ixzz2IEvwJb9K

This story continues to develop.  It looks like some of the hostages were able to escape, possibly including some Americans.

[LongBlade]

Good.

[Centurion40]

At this moment, CNN is reporting this:

http://www.cnn.com/2013/01/17/world/mali-unrest/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Algiers, Algeria (CNN) -- Algeria launched an operation to free foreign hostages at a gas plant after it tried but failed to forge a resolution with the Islamist captors, the government said Thursday.

Now, the the military remains locked in an "on-going" operation against the militants, the Algerian communication minister said in a statement on Algerian State TV.

"Situation remains very serious and difficult," said a Twitter message from the British prime minister's office.
The Algerian army operation freed two Britons, a Kenyan and a French citizen, the Algerian Press Service said. The report also said there are a number of casualties in the action, but the exact number is not yet known. CNN could not independently confirm the report. CNN affiliate BFM-TV reported the French citizen is a nurse who worked on the site.

An Irish hostage is also free, the Irish government said, but it is not clear if he was liberated by the Algerian military effort.

Whereas my local paper is reporting the following:

http://thechronicleherald.ca/world/458010-algerian-military-storms-gas-plant-to-free-hostages

Reports suggest 35 captives, 15 militants dead

ALGIERS, Algeria — Algerian forces launched a military assault Thursday at a natural gas plant in the Sahara Desert, trying to free dozens of foreign hostages held by militants who have ties to Mali's rebel Islamists, diplomats and an Algerian security official said.

Yet information on the Algerian operation varied wildly and the conflicting reports that emerged from the remote area were impossible to verify independently. What did leak out prompted governments around the world to express deep concerns about the way Algeria tried to rescue the hostages, who were from at least nine different countries.

News of the bloody Algerian operation caused oil prices to rise $1.08 to $95.32 on the New York Mercantile Exchange and prompted energy companies like BP PLC and Spain's Compania Espanola de Petroleos SA to try to relocate energy workers at other Algerian plants.

The Algerian government said it was forced to intervene due to the militants' stubbornness and their desire to escape with the hostages. The communications minister said there were casualties in the military operation Thursday, but gave no details.

"An important number of hostages were freed and an important number of terrorists were neutralized and we regret the few dead and wounded, but we don't have numbers," minister Mohand Said Oubelaid said on national radio. "The operation to free the rest of the hostages still inside (the plant) is ongoing."

[Martok]

Never mind, 40Cent beat me to it. 

[Longdan]

I would repeat myself.

[Bison]

This story is a lie.  Radical Islam died with Osama Bin Laden.  It's not a threat any more.  I think this is most likely just an unfortunate case of workplace violence.

[Longdan]

You are funny.

[TheCommandTent]

It still seems that after all day of reporting on it in none of the major news outlets can confirm any numbers.

[LongBlade]

It still seems that after all day of reporting on it in none of the major news outlets can confirm any numbers.

Reports are still mixed, as is often the case with stuff like this.

Apparently the Algerians moved on the terrorists without consulting with anyone else.

[Bison]

Well to be fair we didn't seem to be to damned interested in doing anything if the news coverage means anything.  The media is much more interested in disarming the American public and Lance Armstrong's doping then speaking about yet another foreign debacle.