lgerian hostage crisis: six Britons feared dead, says David Cameron
Three British nationals have died and three more feared dead following Algerian hostage crisis, the prime minister has said.Three British nationals have died and three more are feared dead following the Algerian hostage crisis, David Cameron has said.The prime minister said a UK resident had also been killed in the four-day stand-off in the desert, which dramatically came to an end on Saturday.Speaking at Chequers on Sunday, Cameron said the priority was to get the surviving hostages home from Algeria."I know the whole country will want to join with me in sending our sympathy and our condolences to the families who have undergone an absolutely dreadful ordeal," he said.
The Foreign Office said the figures announced by the prime minister included the Briton killed on Wednesday in the initial raid by Islamist militants.The final assault by Algerian special forces on the group of jihadist hostage-takers who seized the In Amenas gas facility ended on Saturday with the deaths of the seven remaining foreign hostages. Also killed was the Niger terrorist believed to lead the al-Qaida splinter group's leader, Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri. Twenty-three 23 hostages were killed during the standoff.
Algeria's state news service says de-mining teams are going through the gas refinery that was the scene of a bloody four-day hostage standoff, searching for explosive traps left by the Islamic militants who took dozens of foreigner prisoner.
Algerian special forces stormed the natural gas complex in the Sahara on Saturday to end the siege that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.
With few details emerging from the remote Ain Amenas site in eastern Algeria, it was unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday — seven — was how many the militants had said they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remain unaccounted for.