dagblog - Comments for "Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)"

Hiding, Praying, Tied to

artappraiser — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:11:53 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

Hiding, Praying, Tied to Bombs: Captives Detail Algerian Ordeal

By Lydia Polgreen and Scott Sayare, New York Times, Jan 18/19, 2013

The gunmen, dressed in fatigues and wearing turbans, stormed in well before dawn aboard pickup trucks, announcing their arrival with a burst of gunfire.

Dozens of employees were eating breakfast at the time before heading off to the vast network of tubes and silos of the In Amenas gas field, where hundreds of Algerians and foreigners work to extract natural gas from the arid sands of the Sahara.

“God is great,” the gunmen cried as they arrived.

It was the beginning of a terrifying ordeal — one in which foreign hostages would come under fire from both the gunmen holding them and the Algerian government soldiers trying to free them. For many of the captives, it is an ordeal that has yet to end.

Some hostages were forced to wear explosives on their bodies. Others hid under beds and on rooftops, praying to survive but expecting death. One was shot in the back while his fellow captives looked on. Left by their captors with their cellphones, some phoned home with terrifying accounts of the horrors unfolding all around. [.....]

Algeria says 600 hostages

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 20:58:16 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

Algeria says 600 hostages freed; terrorists say 35 died
By Oren Dorell, Charles McPhedran and Louise Osborne, USA TODAY,

3:39p.m. EST January 17, 2013

Guardian live updates

Fears for hostages as Algeria attacks gas complex Live

• Reports of deaths of hostages and kidnappers
• 'Military operation under way' - UK Foreign Office
• Irishman free and has made contact with family
• Read a summary of key events

Reports of Airstrikes,

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 19:56:07 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

Reports of Airstrikes, Casualties at Algerian Hostage Site
VOA News, Jan 17

Some Hostages Killed, but Raid Rescues Many, Algeria Says

New York Times

- ‎12 minutes ago‎

BAMAKO, Mali — Algerian forces assaulted a heavily armed group of Islamist extremists with dozens of hostages including Americans and other foreigners in a remote Algerian desert gas field facility on Thursday, killing a large number of the kidnappers and ...

Fatalities Among Algeria Hostages

Wall Street Journal

- ‎20 minutes ago‎

Governments scrambled to find out more information about the fate of their citizens as an Algerian official said some hostages were killed during a strike against suspected Islamic militants in Algeria.

Algerian hostage crisis erupts: reports of 35 hostages killed by helicopter attack

The Independent

- ‎11 minutes ago‎

Algeria government says had to storm plant, action continues

Reuters

- ‎21 minutes ago‎

ALGIERS | Thu Jan 17, 2013 2:32pm EST. ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's government spokesman confirmed some hostages were killed in a continuing military operation at a desert gas plant on Thursday but said troops had been forced to act to free them due ...

The New York Times piece has

artappraiser — Thu, 17 Jan 2013 03:59:11 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

The New York Times piece has been updated since I posted it and filled out with some more information, including a more nuanced depiction of the Algerian public support situation, like these two paragraphs:

The attackers seemed particularly incensed that Algeria’s government had permitted the French to use Algerian airspace to fly warplanes and military equipment into Mali, according to their statement, which may explain why they chose Algeria for retaliation. Some Algerian military experts said the Algerian public also was unhappy about the government’s decision.

“The setting in motion of a military machine in north Mali was going to have definite repercussions in Algeria,” said Mohamed Chafik Mesbah, a former Algerian Army officer and political scientist reached by telephone in Algiers. “This is only the beginning,” he said. “There are going to be much worse consequences. There will be more attacks.”

Interesting on the motive,

artappraiser — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:13:59 +0000

In reply to CNN: Islamists take foreign

Interesting on the motive, they want the crusaders out of Mali but they want crusaders to go into Syria?

A Mauritanian news agency, Al Akhbar, said the attackers demanded in a news release an end to "brutal aggression on our people in Mali."

It cited "blatant intervention of the French crusader forces in Mali" and accused the world of having left Syria's people "groaning under the pressure of the butcher" President Bashar al-Assad.

The news release said they chose Algeria because the country's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, allowed French military forces to use Algerian air space in attacking Mali.

It put the number of hostages at "more than 40," including seven Americans, two French, two British and a number of other Europeans.

An Islamist group claiming responsibility for the attack told the Mauritanian News Agency and Sahara Media that 41 "Westerners including seven Americans, (as well as) French, British and Japanese citizens have been taken hostage."

CNN: Islamists take foreign

artappraiser — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:07:27 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

CNN:

Islamists take foreign hostages in attack on Algerian oil field
By Tom Watkins, Laura Smith-Spark and Yousuf Basil, CNN
updated 5:49 PM EST, Wed January 16, 2013

They are also covering the story right now on TV.

Some clarification for those

artappraiser — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 23:04:20 +0000

In reply to Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)

Some clarification for those who haven't been following the news about the Mali operation.

The Algerian government is 100% supportive of the Mali operation, see my news thread here; the long-deteriorating situation has been a huge problem for them. The French are using Algeria as an air base for the attacks.

Algerian al-Qaeda sympathizers are part of the motley crew that make up the group that France is attacking, you can read about that in articles on my thread here, but the Christian Science Monitor piece I cite there is the best for summing it up succinctly.

As the Monitor piece explains, the takeover of Northern Mali includes a coalition of

three basic groups: Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith) and the Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa (MUJWA)

and it is the first group on their list that includes Algerians:

AQIM has operated in the north for at least a decade but got its blessing from Osama bin Ladin in 2006. It is mostly made up of Algerians and Mauritanians. Formerly the Group Salafist for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), it was initially made up of hardcore remnants from Algerian civil war. AQIM is thought to be well financed out of kidnapping ransoms and control of smuggling corridors, including cocaine.

The US hasn't really participated yet except at the UN Security Council; we've promised minor support but hadn't really worked out what exactly and how yet, see "Who Is Doing What?" here and other news items on that thread.. (We did recently try to assist France with their Somalia hostage situation and Obama recently reported that publicly to Congress because it is a requirement of the WPA. That situation was regarding yet another Al Qaeda-linked group in Africa, Al Shabab.)

dagblog - Comments for "Militants Seize Americans and Other Hostages in Algeria (related to Mali operation)"

Hiding, Praying, Tied to

Algeria says 600 hostages

Guardian live updates

Reports of Airstrikes,

The New York Times piece has

Interesting on the motive,

CNN: Islamists take foreign

Some clarification for those