Algeria hostage crisis: latest as 10 Britons remain missing in desert

16.37 Philip Hammond has said that there are further British casualties, althought did not confirm the number. Meanwhile, Bob Dudley, BP's chief executive, said 14 out of 18 BP staff who were at the compound are safe.

16.25 El-Watan, the independent French-language newspaper in Algeria quoting official sources, is saying that the hostage-takers had given up hope of escaping and started killing foreigners, which then triggered the special forces' assault.


Survivor Stephen McFaul told how he had Semtex strapped to his neck, which his kidnappers had threatened to detonate if there was any rescue attempts (Photo:Reuters)

16.17 According to the state news agency, the current death toll for hostages is 19, while 29 Islamist militants have been killed by Algerian special forces.

15.33 The hostage crisis has now "been brought to an end", according to Philip Hammond, the defence secretary.

"The hostage situation has been brought to an end by a further assault by Algerian forces which has resulted in further loss of life," he told a joint press conference with his US counterpart Leon Panetta.

14:58 French President Francois Hollande has warned that the terrorist acts of the last few days that will not halt its military action in Mali, which will last until they "vanish terrorism" in that part of the world.

And it seems the French people are behind him. A poll released today, conducted in the last two days, shows that 65 percent of French back their country's military intervention in Mali to try to oust Islamists.

14.20 News as it come in on the nationality of the dead hostages: the Romanian PM has confirmed that one of those killed is a Romanian national.

14:18 Making a statement just now, William Hague, said:

At Ain Amenas in Algeria this situation is still going on. It remains a very difficult and dangerous situation. Of course our priority remains the welfare and safety of British nationals caught up in this incident. The large majority of British nationals originally caught up in it are now safe and accounted for. As of now there are fewer than 10 at risk or unaccounted for. But that of course means that we continue to prepare ourselves for bad news.

This whole incident underlines the scale and ruthlessness of the terrorist threat that we and other nations face. We underline our resolve to deal with that and to defeat terrorism and murder, working with allies across the world, including in north Africa.

He said he had spoken to the Algerian foreign minister and "pressed upon him" the need for up-to-date information and said the foreign office was offering assistance to all the families.


13.52 The latest is that militants have laid mines around the plant which the army are now painstakingly trying to clear, according to the country's energy company Sonatrach.

13.36 From what we can tell, Algerian forces have just stormed the site, managing to kill 11 rebels and rescue 16 hostages, while seven were killed in a "final assault".

"The assault took place mid-morning. Eleven terrorists lost their lives along with the foreign hostages. We think they were killed in retaliation," a source told AFP.

13.30 According to AFP news agency, Algerian forces have just stormed the desert complex and seven hostages have been killed. A militant leader reportedly threatened to kill all the hostages if Algerian authorities refused to negotiate.

13.20 Just in: 16 hostages have been released, including two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese, according to Reuters news agency. They also report that Martyn Roper, the British ambassador to Algeria, will travel to the site later today.

13.00 There's a very moving account from a released Filipino hostage who works on the site as a project manager for the Japanese company JGC Corp.

Ruben Andrada, 49, a civil engineer, told The Associated Press that an Algerian helicopter gunship opened fire on vehicles carrying hostages and the gunmen who used them as shields.

When we left the compound, there was shooting all around. I closed my eyes. We were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate.

The gunman behind me was shooting at the gunship and it was very loud. Then we made a sudden left turn and our Land Cruiser fell on the right side where I was.

I was pinned down by the guy next to me. I could hear the helicopter hovering above. I was just waiting for a bullet from the helicopter to hit me.

12.45 To give you a bit of background on Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who is accused of ordering the attack, he travelled to Afghanistan in his late teens to support the mujahadeen fighting in the Civil War in Afghanistan.

Belmokhtar lost his left eye in fighting in the 1990s and now wears a false eye.

He gained a reputation for being a hard fighter and was made commander of the Mali-based Islamist Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

In recent years, Mr Belmokhtar has gained notoriety as a hostage-taker across the vast Sahara, often demanding multi-million dollar ransoms from Western governments which - along with cigarette-smuggling - finances his jihad.

12:00 Details have emerged of the moment one British victim was killed. A freed hostage has described how Islamist militants shot the British worker dead after forcing him to tell colleagues to come out of hiding.

The man, who gave his name only as Chabane and said he worked in the food service at the In Amenas plant, tells of what he was ordered to do by armed men speaking with Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian accents.

They threatened him until he called out in English to his friends, telling them, 'Come out, come out. They're not going to kill you. They're looking for the Americans'. A few minutes later, they blew him away.


Some of the luckier British hostages that managed to escape are seen here on a local television station. (Photo:AFP)

11.55 The French defence minister has said he does not believe there are any more French nationals being held at the plant.

One French hostage, who was reportedly a supervisor at the site, was killed yesterday.

11.40 Algerian special forces have just found 15 burned bodies at the gas plant, according to news agency Reuters.

They are currently trying to identify the bodies, which were found after the army launched an operation to free the hostages.

11.24 To give you a clearer picture of the current situation at the In Amenas natural gas plant in eastern Algeria, it is thought there are around 32 remaining foreign hostages. They are being held by a small group of up to 10 Islamist rebels, armed with explosives, who have now retreated into a machine room

The site is in remote desert, which has made it easier for Algerian forces to surround the area and maintain control.

11.07 African leaders are holding their own summit in Ivory Coast as I write. It is thought they will sign off on a regional mission to take over from French forces in Mali, but as it stands they are "short on financing and planning."

In the last week France has carried out air strikes and scrambled ground troops, acting to prevent militants from tightening their grip on Mali's northern desert zone and using it as a springboard for attacks in Africa and on the West.


British survivor Mark Gran texted his wife Emma to tell her he was safe and well

10.45 One of the most intriguing details to come out of interviews with released hostages is that some of the terrorists were heard speaking English with a "perfect English accent."

Iba El Haza, a driver at the BP gas plant near the Libyan border, said of his captors: "I saw five inside the plant, but I don't know how many others were outside."

A number of British Muslims have been convicted in foreign courts or have fought for, or trained with, terrorist or extreme Islamist groups abroad. In December, a British student was arrested on the border of Mauritania and Mali, accused of trying to join an Islamic terrorist group affiliated to the kidnappers.

Bottom right: Mokhtar Belmokhtar of the "Masked Briigade" is the leader of the group behind the kidnappings (Photo: AFP/Getty Images)

10.40 Some good news, reports this morning say two employees of Norwegian energy firm Statoil have been "brought to safety" after being released earlier this morning.

10.32 The Government's Cobra meeting is due to meet this morning to discuss how to get the British hostages out of Algeria.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, has said this morning on his Twitter page the Algerian hostage crisis will remain the government's "top priority until every British national is accounted for".

The Telegraph reported yesterday that David Cameron has put SAS soldiers and specialist negotiators on standby to intervene if needed.

10.27 Good morning. The stand-off between the Algerian army and Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen - one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades - enters its fourth day today.

It is believed that 32 foreigners are still unaccounted for, with up to 10 Britons believed to be among them along with citizens from the United States, Norway and Japan.

Source http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/9812922/Algeria-hostage-crisis-latest-as-10-Britons-remain-missing-in-desert.html