‘Mali’ Islamists kill 3, take 41 hostage in Algeria

Published: 16 January, 2013, 21:56
Edited: 17 January, 2013, 09:16

Islamists claiming to come from Mali killed three foreigners and are holding 41 more hostage after a raid on a compound near an Algerian gas field. The attack is reportedly in retaliation to the ongoing French military campaign in Mali.

A group of several dozen heavily armed Islamic militants calling themselves "Battalion of Blood"  have reportedly repelled an attempt by the Algerian army to raid the facility where the hostages are being held. The soldiers were forced to retreat after an exchange of fire, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported citing a source in the al Qaeda-affiliated group.

The source added that besides light weapons the militants are armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles.

The terrorist group using three vehicles launched an early morning attack against a base owned by Sontrach, the Algerian national oil company.

A Briton and an Algerian security guard were killed and seven people  were injured in the assault, including two foreigners, Algeria's  official APS news agency said. A French national was also killed in the attack, Reuters cites a local source as saying.

The Foreign Office in London said it could not confirm that a Briton had been killed, only that “British Nationals ”were caught up in an "ongoing terrorist incident."

"Forty-one westerners including seven Americans, French, British and Japanese citizens have been taken hostage," a spokesman for the Islamists told the Mauritanian News Agency and Sahara Media.

He said some of the hostages were being held at the gas plant, while the others were in a nearby housing complex.

Thirteen Norwegian employees working for the energy company Statoil have also been taken hostage inside the natural gas facility, Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference on Wednesday.

We've asked the Algerian authorities to put the life and health of the hostages above all," Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide told reporters.

The Japanese government will hold a meeting to discuss the hostage situation, while the cooperation JGC Corp. that operates in the Ain Amenas region of Algeria, said it would not comment on the number of its employees held hostage or the location of the incident.