US was not aware of raid to free hostages, says official
Pentagon chief spokesman calls Algeria incident a ‘serious and sensitive situation’; Algiers refused US offer of hostage-rescue teams
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama
administration appeared to be in the dark Thursday about a hostage
situation at a natural gas plant in Algeria, where Algerian forces
launched a military assault to free dozens of foreign hostages,
including an unknown number of Americans, held by Islamist militants.
An administration official said the U.S. was
not aware of the raid to free the hostages in advance. The U.S. was
offering no details about how many American hostages had been taken and
whether they were still in captivity or even alive.
The U.S. condemned the militants for seizing
the isolated plant 800 miles (1,287 kilometers) south of the capital,
Algiers, in the Sahara Desert.
Militants with the Masked Brigade, a
Mali-based al-Qaida offshoot that has been speaking through a
Mauritanian news outlet, said the Algerians opened fire Thursday as the
militants tried to leave the vast Ain Amenas energy complex with their
hostages. They claimed that 35 hostages and 15 militants died but seven
hostages survived when Algerian helicopters strafed their convoy.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said
U.S. counterterrorism officials were in touch with their Algerian
counterparts and that she planned to speak Thursday with Algerian Prime
Minister Abdelmalek Sellal for the second time in as many days. She made
a vague reference to ongoing U.S. “planning,” without elaborating.
“The security of our Americans who are held
hostage is our highest priority,” Clinton told reporters. “Because of
the fluidity and the fact that there is a lot of planning going on, I
cannot give you any further details.”
“This is a serious and sensitive situation,”
Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters traveling with Defense
Secretary Leon Panetta in England. Little said military officials were
actively seeking information, and that Panetta had been briefed by
senior military officials.
Ahead of the raid, U.S. officials had been
urging the Algerians to be cautious in their actions, but did not know a
rescue mission was planned, said the administration official, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak
publicly.
Militants earlier said they were holding seven
Americans, but the administration confirmed only that Americans were
among those taken.
“We are deeply concerned about any loss of
innocent life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria,”
White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.
During her conversation with Algeria’s prime
minister Wednesday, Clinton expressed Washington’s “willingness to be
helpful,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said. They also
discussed what type of assistance might be needed, Nuland added, but
declined to provide details.
A senior U.S. military official said the
military offered Algeria hostage-rescue teams on Wednesdays, but the
offer was refused. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because
he wasn’t authorized to discuss the offer publicly.
Nuland said the United States also was in
contact with American businesses across North Africa and the Middle East
to help them guard against the possibility of copycat attacks.
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