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Subscribe to RSSMilitants who attacked a natural gas facility in eastern Algeria took as many as 40 people hostage, including three Americans as retaliation for France's intervention in neighboring Mali. NBC's Rohit Kachroo reports.
Three Americans were among dozens of foreign nationals kidnapped by heavily armed militants who attacked a gas field in Algeria on Wednesday, U.S. officials said.
A militant group claimed the raid was launched in retaliation for France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, Reuters reported, citing local media.
The hostage situation, described as a "terrorist attack" by State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland, was unfolding at a gas operation at In Amenas — a joint venture including oil giant BP, the Norwegian oil firm Statoil and the Algerian state company Sonatrach.
BP said in a statement that the site was "attacked and occupied by a group of unidentified armed people."
Reuters said that according to regional media reports, the raiders killed three people, including a Briton and a French national, but there was no way to confirm the account. Reuters did not report the citizenship of the third person.
Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates across borders in the Sahara desert, claimed it had captured the workers in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, Reuters reported, citing regional news agencies.
France has been using Algeria's air space for attacks against al-Qaida linked militants in Mali since last week.
Western government officials had not yet linked Wednesday's attack to the conflict in Algeria's southern neighbor. Algeria and neighboring Mali are former colonies of France.
"The Algerian authorities will not respond to the demands of the terrorists and will not negotiate,'' Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia was quoted as saying by Algeria's official APS news agency.
One of the kidnappers, reportedly contacted by Mauritania's news agency ANI, warned that any attempt to free the hostages would come to a "tragic end." The militants had placed mines around the site of the kidnapping, according to that unconfirmed report.
The U.S. government is in contact with Algerian authorities, the British Embassy in Algiers, BP's security office in London and the Diplomatic Security office in Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said in a briefing on Wednesday.
French President Francois Hollande said he was also in contact with Algiers and other governments about the attack.
A picture of who was being held hostage — with various reports that the total number was 41 — remains incomplete, but citizens of at least six countries are in the group.
There are three Americans in the group, a senior U.S. official told NBC. An earlier report had put the number at seven.
The State Department’s Nuland confirmed that Americans were among the hostages, but she would not release names, numbers and other details "in order to protect their safety."
Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference that 13 Norwegian citizens were among the hostages. Three Algerian Statoil employees and one Canadian were in the hostage group, the company said. Statoil is a minority shareholder in the venture.
One Irish national was abducted, an Irish government official said, and British Prime Minister David Cameron said "several" British citizens were among the hostages.
A spokesman for the Japanese government said it had set up a task force to investigate reports of Japanese hostages.
A reporter for Japan's NHK television managed to call a Japanese worker in Algeria, Reuters reported. The worker said he got a phone call from a colleague at the gas field.
"It was around 6 a.m. this morning. He said that he had been hearing gunshots for about 20 minutes," the worker said. "I wasn't able to get through to him since."
The U.S. government issued an emergency message to Americans in the country through the embassy in Algiers, warning them to avoid large gatherings, protests or demonstrations.
"U.S. citizens should review their personal security plans, remain aware of their surroundings, including local events, and monitor local news stations for updates," it read, in part. "Maintain a high level of vigilance and take appropriate steps to enhance your personal security and follow instructions of local authorities.
The Amenas gas field is about 800 miles southeast of Algiers and about 35 miles west of the Libyan border.
Oil major BP said it believed the operation had been shut down after the attack, which took place at about 5 a.m. local time. The company said the field had been producing about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day — more than 10 percent of the country's overall gas output, Reuters reported.
Related content:
France launches tough ground offensive against Mali's Islamist rebels
Jim Miklaszewski, Courtney Kube, Ian Johnston, Arata Yamamoto and Alastair Jamieson of NBC News, and Reuters, contributed to this report.
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AQIM affiliates- Muhathamin Brigades and Khaled Abu Abbas Brigades (the last being led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar with his trademark eye patch (for a lost eye) have dedclared being the attackers on the Amenas oil/gas field facilities jointly run by British BP,Norwefgian Statoil and Algerian g'ment owned Sonatrach. 2 people were killed by the ambush (the terrorists carjacked a bus ferrying workers to Amenas) one of whom is a French citizens. Number of hostages taken is still unclear- but they are Japanese,Irish passport owner, allegedly 3 Norwegians (one tweeted to his wife of being taken hostage/kidnapped), Brits and French. Algerian g'ment is negotiating with the kidnappers/AQIM terrorists regarding release of hostages. Get the latest fron www.vg.no/ or www.france24.com/en What is incomprehensible is that there were no precautions taken in lieu of the Mali Maneuvers of ousting/declawing the AQIM terrorists/Salafists who pose a direct,explicit threat to EU and others as a new safe haven for Al Qaeda.
In Syria, Syrian rebels supported by al Qaida, MB, Salaffi are friends.
They are getting all supports from British, French, US and West.
As oil rich Sunni rulers of House of Saud, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and others, oil companies and their lobbyists are jumping all around on Syria, even UN and its agecies have started their regular dances.
In many places, there are enemies! In Benghazi attack, they are supposed to be key players!
Is it right to support enemies in some places while they hurt in many other places?
Wow, the (Al-Qaida) Islamic Maghreb group are some bad ass guys man. Out there waiving guns around and all.
Come up on unarmed workers and kidnap them. Wow, reeeal tough....
They all remind me of children with guns and the mind of a devil.
Brought to you by "terrorists" who are most likely working for the CIA. People can't see the bigger picture. The US is in the business of stirring up unrest in these countries to try to overturn their governments. That is what we do. www.globalresearch.ca Our government is and has been out of control for decades and this instability in the Middle East has been the goal all along.
Brought to you by "terrorists" who are most likely working for the CIA. People can't see the bigger picture. The US is in the business of stirring up unrest in these countries to try to overturn their governments. That is what we do. www.globalresearch.ca Our government is and has been out of control for decades and this instability in the Middle East has been the goal all along.
@creekdog;
Those were my thoughts also. Go after the innocent and unarmed because you can not fight "true battles" with those you have the beef with.
Cowards.
When did the emergency message come with the weak advice to "review their security"???
Agreed, Creek Dog. Accurate assessment.
@Filmerqck603,
Are you a moron or a saleswoman working there with that DotCom phony company run by the bad elements? Why are you posting your free ad here instead of talking about the issue? It is about those evil Islamic terrorists who had kidnapped 41 foreigners in Algeria. Are you one of those Muslim savages? Get a life or get lost you fool!
The pay of these Americans reflects the risks they take. Oil companies post record profits year after year. Let them pay to save these folks.
BF100, they're all over this thing trying to rake in some free ads and have been for some time. Their tactics have become a little sneakier lately. Just hit the exclamation point on the lower right and check the "advertising" block. The moderators get rid of them quickly. It's why we keep seeing so many deleted posts on these threads.
As long as America will continue to have so-called "friends and allies"(actually evil and rogue countries) like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and all other medieval Muslim countries - terrorism, killings, kidnapping, hijacking, torture, rapes, cruelty, barbarism and destruction's will not stop and there will be no peace either on this planet earth. Wherever Muslims lives - there will surely be problems.
Islam and its poisonous unholy book are the root cause of all problems, unrest and miseries all over the world and the time has come to tackle them with iron feasts. We have defeated devil communists and their devilish communism ideology and now, we have to eliminate the evil Islam and its savage followers once and for all for peace to prevail. That is a must as we have no other choice! Peace!
Creek Dog
Al Qaida? Come on now. This was obviously just a protest in response to that video. We all know Al Qaida has been destroyed because the President told us so every time he gave a campaign speech. /sarc
BF100
ROTFLMAO! Did you forget the "/sarcasm" tag or were you actually expecting people to take you seriously?
I know there are millions of us Americans who have a beef with our government but your post paints a picture of some guy who never got over his 1st girlfriend, showers once a year and lives in mom's basement behind a computer dreaming up a way to take them or anyone affiliated with them out. Whew!!! Wow man....
Backcountry,
Good one man.............good one. ;-)
Get used to these events folks. With our P_ssy-In-Chief leading the way, these terrorists will have their way with us.
Uh oh, another thing for the GOP to blame on President Obama. Its HIS Personal responsibility (24x7) to ensure all American Citizens (even those employed by foreign corporations) are 1000000% safe at all times.
Bobster-1557895
You are so right.. I mean Obama learned from BUSH right? 54 murdered americans in 12 embassy attacks? 1000's of Americans killed in Iraq...100K Iraqis.. Obama had such a great teacher.
Oh my bad.... I am supposed to 'ignore' and 'pretend' that BUSH never happened, and when President Obama was elected, all 9 billion on the people on the planet just LOVED Us.. terrorists included.
blow them up and be done with it. america shouldnt be doing Bp's dirt work look at the gulf of mexico...as for the americans there ....good luck...your faces were a target from the get go
Re-read the lead post, no where does it say anything about any Americans being captured; yes, I went back and read it again just to make sure. If McCain had been re-elected, or if Romney had won in Nov. you can bet your sweet A** we'd have troops there within 24-hours getting more hostages killed, as well as some of the supposed rescue troops.
ItsAboutTime-3704531, I think the Repubs have forgotten how many of our troops were killed in Iraq trying to liberate Iraq from a tyrant named Hussain. We can see where that went, bombings everyday and who know how many Iraqi's being killed all in the name of DEMOCRACY.
Ed Orr
VERY FIRST SENTENCE OF THE STORY- "A number of Americans are among 41 hostages seized by militants at a gas field in eastern Algeria,..."
May I suggest that you actually read the story instead of just jumping down to the comment section?
My suggestion would be to go back and read, reread, and read again.
ItsAboutTime,
LMFAO!!!
Blame Bush! Blame Bush!
Come back to the future Slappy. Your boy obama is president now.
Liberals. God love em! LOL!
BigMowma, don't comment spam. You are suspended for a day for violating rule # 5 of the Code of Honor.
What does comment spam mean?
Comment spam; it must be as regularly punished as jaywalking.
www.globalresearch.ca :)
But, but, but, but Barrack Hussein and Joe "Bite Me" Biden said Al Qaeda was dead!!!!!
We were reassured that when Barrack Hussein flew those Blackhawks into Pakistan himself and then he stormed the complex where Osama Porn Laden was hiding and shot him between the eyes that terrorism was done and the Middle East and Northern Africa was safe again.
And even more surprisingly, Leon Panetta even called this an (GULP) ACT OF TERROR!!!
I guess they actually did learn something from Benghazi.
Benghazi; once there was no response; it gave a clear signal; that we will not intervins even to save our own people; once a enemy backs you down, he becomes bolder next time again and again !
it's "commentspam.com"...................oops, suspended for the day.........LoL
Give Sally something to do.....=(^.^)=
"Al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, which operates across borders in the Sahara desert, claimed it had captured the workers in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, Reuters reported, citing regional news agencies."
At least, their masters and fountainheads of Sunni Islamic terrorism like oil rich Sunni rulers of House of Saud, Qatar, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations should be able to help the US, British, French and Norweign for saving them from Saddam!
Can we provide Algeria some drone support?
With friends (al Qaida) of friends like Saudi Arabia, there will be shortage of drones.
Brought to you by "terrorists" who are most likely working for the CIA. People can't see the bigger picture. The US is in the business of stirring up unrest in these countries to try to overturn their governments. That is what we do. www.globalresearch.ca
Is this what happens when you're on a Spam diet, BigMowma??? There's still time before it becomes permanent...drop that Spam can and seek medical help.
So, Bigmowma did you go to Iraq, or Afghanistan while Bush was Pres? If not then STFU.
Ed my guess is the only service you ever performed was dinner service. You and the person you criticize are both reprehensible. By the way more troops died in Afghanistan by a significant margin under Obama's surge and leadership than under Bush.
The CIA has had a hand in every police action the USA has been involved in every since the CIA was created. That's what they do......and no I did not go to the ME and I will not STFU....I earned my right to speak while most of those that served in the ME were not even a sheet stain..Remember SEA...?
Ed, I was banned for a day for typing "SFTU".........just FYI.
"A militant group claimed the raid was launched in retaliation for France's military intervention in neighboring Mali, Reuters reported"
What is this: French have not even started their dances on the ground in Mali?
French, British and others supporting Sunni rulers of House of Saud and others should wear seventh century desert dresses and ask the militant group's masters to help them.
Many have danced well with them since 1991 Iraqi war.
Is Mali going to end up as another Vietnam?
OMG, gas will be up 27 cents by the time I get home on this news. I knew I should have fillied up this morning!
Brought to you by "terrorists" who are most likely working for the CIA. People can't see the bigger picture. The US is in the business of stirring up unrest in these countries to try to overturn their governments. That is what we do. www.globalresearch.ca
Quick Big Momma, get off the computer!!! Obama is comin to git all your'ins guns, hide thems now! Oh no, you will have no meaning in life.....
you're confusing natural gas with gasoline, gasoline is made from crude oil, while natural gas is a whole different type of hydrocarbon, if anything it would drive up electricity and heating costs but probably not since it's just one field and there's a hell of a lot more where it came from
IXLR8 - nowhere did BigMowma mention Obama (or guns), they talked of our government, which has been doing this for decades in the Middle East. Do some research.
Our government has, over and over, put their hands in and stirred the pot, hoping to be part of the group that 'wins' and then able to get their piece of it, which doesn't happen, because once any group we finance, train, etc. takes over, they call us the problem also.
Hang on - you guys collapsed BigMowma's comment? He posted no attack, nothing offending and even provided a web addy to visit and you guys collapse him cause he had an opinion that you don't agree with? You guys all realize that this country was founded by dissenters, don't you?
Sad.
Cut seven some slack will, " The company said the field had been producing about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day", that statement is not very clear.
Thanks IWonder. I will add I have never collapsed anyones comment and really not sure how to do it. I believe in freedom of speech even if I don't agree with you. I will argue too much and am learing to let some things go.
Anyhow oil and gas prices will be up and up as long as oil rich Sunni rulers of House of Saud and co, oil companies and their lobbyists control most of the politicians.
If there are no reasons, they will invent one!
Most of the British, French and other European politiciians like David Cameron, Hollande and others are ending up as jokers.
They were imagining that they were too smart and trying to meddle in the Shiites vs Sunnis battles in Syria with their regular dances!
Whereas the U.S. haven't been involved in the Sunni vs Shiite conflicts at all Jonathan?! Think before you speak. Or even better, try researching using a broad spectrum of sources.
Pulling At The Threads: It is better you think before you post/speak.
Did not the Iraqi wars determine oil rich Sunni rulers of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE and other Sunni Arab League nations as winners against Saddam?
If Saddam was there, it would have been better for the world and us.
In Syria and Iran, we have been taking sides of Sunni rulers and Sunnis. Where are you?
"The al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb group claimed it had captured the workers during a raid on the In Amenas gas production plant"
British ought to send their pals, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a front for Sunni haters and killers to negotiate deals with their al-Qaida pals.
British have started fumbling in their "too smart" world empire dances!
Another thing I don't understand.
Humans could go to moon. But this oil and gas business appear to be center for many problems.
Oil price manipulations with cooked up stories like WMDs in Iran and hence sanctions on Iranian oil is also beyond me!
Are the lobbyist for oil companies and auto majors so powerful that they won't permit oil substitutes.
But I thought Al-Qaida and it's affiliates were decimated by Obama. Didn't Obama,Joe,Hillary and Susan Rice say so just before our Ambassador was killed in Benghazi?
Remember "Ben Laden is dead. GM is alive"?
Saudi Arabia told them so and so they said al Qaida is decimated.
And our southern border is secure and never safer . . .
Sleep soundly, little lambs.
slodon,
I think the word you are looking for is "annihilated".... decimation refers to the Roman discipline of putting every tenth soldier to death if a legion screwed up bad enough (so resulting in a 10% fatality rate).
Also you should be aware the region the incident occurred in, (i.e. not the US). Certainly terrorism is still a problem in the rest of the world, but with "decimation" of Al-Qaida (the base) their ability to hit US territory is reduced. So Obama was correct in part and incorrect in part, it just depends on your point of view and the context of the statement.
Yes, Slodon and when Bush and gang left Afghanistan back in 2003 to go invade Iraq they also said Al Qaeda had been taken care of; no, Al Qaeda just moved operations to Iraq and carried on their killing. Iraq still has NO PEACE.
Ed,
LMFAO!!
Blame Bush! Blame Bush! LOL!
You libbies are a funny bunch!
Of course Progressives are funny, ifd you find liars, frauds and hypocrites funny. Iraq is a mess under Obama now. Syria is falling to Al-queda. He helped Al-Queda take over Libya. He put the bombers of the WTC the first time in charge in Egypt, causing another war in Gaza. He just put American troops in Turkey to defend the country that refused to honor NATO commitments and support us in Iraq and oil companies are now making more under him than under their "friend" Bush. With enemies like Obama the oil companies would be nuts to even think of having friends. Oh and we the taxpayers lost money on the sale of GM stock to the tune of 20 billion, but Obama's friends on Wall Street made a killing on the IPO....with his help and guidance.
Please ...Please...Please... When they finally catch these cowards and free the hostages, please put these islamic cretins to death immediately! Tie them up, smear them with pig blood, and slowly cut off their heads with a dull knife, and put their severed heads on tall wooden stakes pounded into the ground and proudly display them for the rest of the evil islamic infected animals to view.
Seven, that would be considered cruel inhumane punishment and the Wicked west that is the US would be considered evil and hateful towards the "Peaceloving" Muslim countries.
i heard if you get your head cut off, you won't find "heaven", therefore, NO virgins.
You better release them, or I will get the UN on you guys!
We should beef up our financial aid packages to our Muslim country friends. How else will they be able to continue to feed the future terrorists of the world.
Tod bad. That is the problem of the company. When you take these jobs, you know the risks and if you still choose to take them, it's your employers problem.
Just like those idiots who ski, mt. climb, get in trouble than want the American tax payer to pay for their rescue. They should be charged what ever it take to get them home.
So the company that these people work for should not expect the American tax payer to foot the bill when their workers get targeted. We get nothing from the company in the way of a check for our participation, so why do these companies think I give a crap when they get the big bucks.
It's Hillary's fault.
I just read an oxy moron - The Afghan intelligence office. Must be the size of an out house!
We should be off the corrupt Republican OIL & FINANCIAL corporate MONARCHY'S 3x's too high-priced POLLUTANT gasoline and be on "OUR VERY OWN" NON-POLLUTANT Natural Gas for BOTH HOME & AUTOMOBILE! And, ultimately, we should be ALREADY CONVERTING to, THE ALMOST DAMN FREE, 100% NON-POLLUTANT MAGNETICALLY-DRIVEN ELECTRICAL ENERGY FOR BOTH HOME & AUTO! We have the PATENTS and we have the AC/DC technology to QUICKLY CONVERT to this form of energy!
Since this form of energy is INDEPENDENT of each other, WE WOULD ALSO HAVE NO MORE MASSIVE POWER OUTAGES caused by our NOW FREQUENT CLIMATE DISASTERS!
The hell with their UNCONTROLLED CAPITALISTIC GREED!
The headline should say American Oil company Employees Arrested for stealing oil
first of all, none of the oil companies who own this are american and second of all, how is it stealing oil?
Will
Excellent point and question. It should be interesting to see what the response is.
I'm not sure what Arthur's pic is of. Is that a fag climbing a dick tree?
Good Lord Obama needs to ban spoons his wife is fat and helpless. Please Nazi sir help her.
I'd love to know the relevance of this hateful post..
I don't like Obama either, but WTF?!!??!
Why don't we just go in and eradicate these a'holes like the infestation they are and then all the affected countries go on an extended exercise to hunt them down everywhere they exist and raze their inbred organizations off the planet so we can rid the world of this particularly poisonous ideology?
Like the last decade in Afghanistan? Turns out it's not quite the slam-dunk people said it would be.
By Presidential order, big-butt can only be photographed from the front. Problem solved.
WHAT?????????
i have started a petition at the whitehouse. gov
the petition is to have the federal government to enforce its own bans on marijuana and illegal immigration.
please go there and sign it.
http://wh.gov/Esqw
So, you're against grain and herb...got it
sorry, duplicate
Why ban marijuana? If anything, it's medicinal.
Unlike Cocaine, heroin etc... that the gang-bangers protect and kill each other for.
I totally agree with illegal immigration
roll it smoke it and solve all the little things like ...too lazy to kill today stuff...
Creek Dog - Good afternoon bro...see, some people can't see a big picture, can they?
I'm going to start a petition to stop stupid petitions - between AgainttheGrains (who wants to make sure marijuana is banned but can't spell his board name correctly) and that Piers Morgan joke, time to be done with stupid petitions.
Though I do agree on immigration also, but do we really need a petition, we already know what our government will do.
Creek Dog,
I guess you never heard of the Cornbread Mafia. The most vicious crime outfit in the US. They control a lot of the weed supply and these guys are totally ruthless. Most of their violence happens out in the sticks and is never reported but I know of their capabilities firsthand. They deal with all the big motorcycle gangs so you hear more about them then the Cornbread Mafia.
But I say legalize all drugs even hard-stuff like heroin and LSD.
That's one petition I'd be happy to burn...
Dear Friends:
Each of these Americans are important. Aren't they Obama. Now this is the stuff that the President is supposed to be responding to. Where are you Barrack! Barrack! Oh Barrack Obama are you there?
Gas Control????????????
Were these 'workers' carrying 'assault rifles', if not, why not? (We want our teachers to be armed here in the good ole USA)
yeah arm them teachers .. low grades should be banned.
Damn...Stick a fork in them, they are as good as dead.
obama wont do a damn thing to rescue them. he is too damn busy here taking our guns.
You are too right. Let's see how long they twist in the wind. Ask that Marine who just got out of that jail in Mexico. More stones that o'bammy. has...
Waaaaaaa?
Well let's see, we had SEALS rescue hostages and headshot the kidnappers in 2009, we had US Special Forces rescue an American and a Dane in Somalia last year. So contrary to your bull@!$%# rhetoric, Obama does find the time to get our people home.
By the way, just what f**king guns is he taking from you? The answer? Not a single f**king gun.
Your use of epithets brands you as quite stupid which does confirm you support Obama.
Used for emphasis, and quite effective obviously as it seems to be the only thing you're capable of focusing on. Seems you needed it as well, since you clearly missed my pro-Obama sentence prior to that.
Not our problem.
I don't get it. US companies have already made bad experiences in Iraq regarding the civilians they employed there, who weren't properly guarded. Why would such companies continue to have workers in these areas who have no security detail?
It's not very expensive to employ some good gunfighters, especially retired vets from Iraq and Afghanistan, who would really need that money.
Why does it have to come to such extreme situations and life losses? I put the blame on the companies, not on the Government.
Im amazed at the educated americans that go into these third world gun fights carryng
knives. I wouldnt even consider going in those pig pens without enough fire power to level a mile radius. Man , or at least make bp hire well paid militias and a bonus after a period of incidents.
I judge a religion somewhat how they treat people instead of extorting folks,
the white house thinks it is a cultural exchange and not a terrorist attack. The terrorists ust want to show the guests their culture and customs.
Oh, my, another incident of workplace violence ...
in a situation like this i still wonder why some people are still even in those area's.
Money. its all about the money.
So you can drive your kids around in your gas gulping SUV.
Contrary to the popular opinion on here there are a lot of guys working there because our big friendly companies have left the ability to be employed and feed your family in US nearly impossible. There are people who will work whatever job it takes to feed their families and keep their homes rather than to collect unemployment and food stamps.
There are risks and there is security in these field camps, and an attack like this shows it is inadequate. The countries aren't going to allow outside forces to guard their oil fields and the people working there. It would be like asking the French Foreign Legion to come guard our schools.
What is sad is that we point out all the short comings and the terrorists in other countries and fail to control the terrorists on our own city streets, we prefer to call them gangs.