34 hostages, 15 kidnappers killed in Algeria raid
Thursday January 17, 2013 09:40:14 PM,
IANS
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London: Algerian army
helicopters Thursday fired at a petroleum facility where over 40
Western hostages were being held, leaving at least 34 hostages and
15 kidnappers dead, media reports said.
The British Petroleum (BP) natural gas field is in Ain Amenas in
Illizi province, around 60 km from the Libyan border, reports
said.
Mauritania's ANI news agency said a spokesman for the kidnappers
said in a statement that two Japanese hostages were seriously
injured, without giving further details on the extent of the
injuries.
He, however, warned that the fighters of the "Battalion of Blood",
the group that has kidnapped the hostages, "will kill the hostages
if the Algerian army continues with its raids", Xinhua reported.
BBC said militants told Mauritania's ANI news agency that seven
foreign hostages were still alive after the military raid.
Four foreign hostages were freed during the operation, Algeria's
state news agency APS reported.
The militants earlier said they were holding 41 foreign nationals,
including Americans, French, British, Norwegian and Japanese
workers.
Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia earlier said the
kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar
Belmokhtar, a former commander of the Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
A statement purported to be from the hostage-takers called for an
end to the French military intervention against Islamist rebels in
neighbouring Mali.
Algeria allowed France to use its airspace during its operation
against Islamist militants who occupied northern Mali last year.
The French operation began Friday.
Statoil, the Norwegian oil group sharing the plant with BP, has 12
employees involved in the situation.
Washington and Tokyo have said their nationals were among the
hostage, but French President Francois Hollande said he was not
certain that French citizens were being held.
French news channel France 24 said Malaysian and Filipino
nationals were also among the hostages.
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