Pls Pray for Safety of Ppl in Algeria Hostage Crisis: Dozens Killed, Many Still Missing (1131 hits)
ALGIERS, Algeria -- The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a Sahara natural gas plant took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria's state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed. That number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, and still meant that the fate of over 30 foreign energy workers was unclear. Yet it could indicate a potential breakthrough in the confrontation that began when the militants seized the plant early Wednesday.
Three Americans were killed in the hostage crisis at an Algerian gas plant last week, a senior administration official said Monday. Previously, one American was known to have been killed. Earlier in the day, the prime minister of Algeria said at least 37 hostages from multiple countries had died in the terrorist seizure. Algerian special forces stormed the complex twice -- once Thursday and then again Saturday -- to free hostages held by Islamist militants for four days. The government said it did so because the militants were planning to blow up the installation and flee to neighboring Mali with hostages.
Monday, January 21st 2013 at 2:36PM
Jen Fad
Algeria Says 37 Foreign Hostages Were Killed in Raid
In his first official tally of the deadly scope of the Algerian hostage crisis, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal said Monday that the known death toll among the foreign captives had risen steeply from 23 to 37 and that five additional foreigners remained unaccounted for. Algerian officials had been forecasting that the tally of the foreign dead in the gas-field seizure would rise from a preliminary estimate of 23 — a trend reinforced by reports form Japan and the Philippines that hostages from those countries were among the dead. In a televised news conference, the prime minister also said 29 militants were killed and three were captured alive during the four-day ordeal at the gas-field seizure, and that two Canadians had been among the attackers.
In an Al-Qaeda supported attempt to establish a Taliban style state in Algeria called “Sahelistan,” 38 workers were killed at a desert gas plant. Nearly all victims were foreign workers, including Americans, Japanese, and Filipinos. ...Horror stories are beginning to emerge from the hostages that survived. Their accounts range from point blank executions, to being used as human shields against Algerian government helicopter attacks. One of the most horrific accounts is from a British woman who claims that her husband had called her to bid his final goodbye as there were explosives tied to his chest.
As some facts begin to unravel, it seems that the plot was in place for over two months. The terrorists’ plans were apparently, to seize all of the foreigners and to take them into Mali. When the military began surrounding them, they began executing the hostages. Many hostages are being recovered with bullet holes in their heads, meaning they were executed, and not casualties during the military assault.
