Algerian military raid ‘ends hostage crisis’

The hostage crisis in Algeria had been ended by the Algerian military with loss of life, according to Philip Hammond, UK defence secretary. At least seven captives were reported to have been killed and 16 foreign hostages freed after the Algerian military stormed a gas installation in the desert where they were being held by al-Qaeda-linked fighters.

“The hostage situation has been brought to an end by a further assault by Algerian forces which has resulted in further loss of life,” Hammond said with his US counterpart Leon Panetta in London on Saturday.

Eleven of the kidnappers were also klilled in Saturday’s raid, according to the Algerian state news agency APS.

“We’re pressing the Algerians for details on the exact situation,” Hammond  said.

He also said that the loss of life was “appalling and unacceptable and we  must be clear that it is the terrorists who bear sole responsibility for it”.

Those freed included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese, sources told Reuters news agency.

The nationalities of the others were not immediately clear.

Earlier, the fighters had said they were still holding seven foreign hostages at the gas plant, and that their demands of an end to the French military intervention in Mali the release of prisoners remain unchanged.

A spokesman for the group, known as Signatories in Blood, told Al Jazeera that they were still open to negotiations regarding a prisoner swap with the Algerian military, after earlier negotiations broke down and led to an Algerian security services assault on the facility.

The burned bodies of 15 people were found at the site of the gas field on Saturday, but their identities were not clear.

An American citizen was confirmed dead early on Saturday.

Haste criticised

Algeria has faced faced international criticism for the haste with which it launched its first military assault on Thursday to rescue the hostages.

A US official said an American military transport plane had begun to help evacuate survivors, but gave no estimate of the number of US hostages.

APS, the Algerian state news agency, earlier quoted a government official as saying that the kidnappers, who claimed to have come from Niger, were heavily armed with machine guns, assault rifles, rocket launchers and missiles.

Some of those who escaped said explosives had been wrapped around their necks and others said they hid, petrified, wherever they could.

The kidnappers seized the plant on Wednesday to avenge what they said was the country’s’ support for French military action in neighbouring Mali.

Source: Aljazeera and agencies