Algeria said Friday morning that the hostage operation was still ongoing at
the Amenas gas field and the site was not secure. There is anger in Western
capitals over the failure of the hostages’ governments - British, Norwegian,
Japanese, American and French – to release casualty figures of the foreigners
seized Wednesday morning by North African al Qaeda (AQIM) raiders. They demanded
that France end its military intervention in Mali. One local source refers to
30 deaths. Still missing are 7 Americans, 10 British, 17 Japanese and 14
Norwegians. They could be dead, injured or hiding. This is more than the total
of 41 foreign nationals originally reported and adds confusion to the hostage
situation. The Algerians now say Thursday night their military operation ended
at the accommodation block where a number of terrorists were "neutralized" but
there are still terrorists in other parts of the site and soldiers are hunting
them down. BP which operated the field is withdrawing foreign staff from other
energy fields in Algeria.
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