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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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These amount to False Flag Operations.. designed to take countries and their people into WWIII... The control of energy is what all this is about..
Im amazed at the amount of educated people that leave our country to go into those third world pig pens for few extra dollars. They walk into these third world gun fights carrying butter knives and then cry for someone to help them . I wouldnt even consider going unless they hire militias with enough fire power to level 20 square miles. Then guarantee free helicopter service from secure compound.
For anybody that wants to somehow fix blame on the current Administration for not acting before this, or some how needing to send in the Seals to pick up oil and gas workers.
The Administration already did it's job, as far as Law and Congressional budgets allow; see below. From here, http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_5774.html
Too damn bad, ex-pat oil workers. What? Not enough shale gas jobs for you in Pennsylvania and New York?
Algeria
September 13, 2012
The Department of State warns U.S. citizens of the risks of travel to Algeria. This Travel Warning replaces the Travel Warning for Algeria dated May 4, 2012, to update information on the current security situation in Algeria and the continuing threat posed by terrorism, and to reiterate information on security incidents and recommendations on security awareness.
The Department of State urges U.S. citizens who travel to Algeria to evaluate carefully the risks posed to their personal safety. There is a high threat of terrorism and kidnappings in Algeria. This kidnapping threat was noted in the Department of State's Worldwide Caution dated July 18, 2012.
Nice try at absolving the spineless and incompetent Obama, but the simple fact is that once he failed to protect our Ambassador in Libya, after he helped Al-Queda take over this was bound to happen. Worst president in history and his cowardice or treason (you choose) has caused this. Kind of funny that a guy who has lived his whole life off taxpayers money would recommend to those that cannot that they just quit work and stay home.
Here we go again. Hey wait a minute! BP=British Petroleum. What are Americans doing at the facility? Just curious.
I thought Obama campaigned on his idea that al-Qaeda has been decimated. We have the Benghazi Consulate attack on 9/11/12; we are assisting the French in their attacks on al-Qaeda in Mali; and now Americans "seized" in Algeria. Looks like al-Qaeda has not been decimated but in fact has assimilated.
Didn't the fake killing of Bin Laden end all of this?
Looks like a group of Islamic extremists is itching for war with the United States. If our citizens are harmed or killed, let the drone wars begin.
Guess all that chatter about revenge from them didn't make it to Hillary's desk again?
Ya, exactly. Which is why Hillary's State Department has been advising Americans to stay out of Algeria to avoid being kidnapped or killed by Islamic Terrorists for over a year now.
If you travel internationally, and don't read and act on State Department travel advisories - ye'r just stupid.
..and if yer just stupid you support Obama who when he fails just tells others to run away.
Or we could cry about the election.
Get out more drones.
I don't want my tax dollars going to rescue highly-paid American oil workers that were advised that they could be killed or kidnapped if they went to Algeria.
what about your tax dollars going thru the un and then to countries that hate us? Thats ok? When oil companies get to file taxes like every other company you know what the left calls that? fair, balenced? no, look into it. If I tell you, you will argue so go argue with history, a libtards worst enemy ! GO, NOW Go do your homework you can thank me for showing you the truth later.
For pete's sake, Al Qaida is the scum of the earth. No reasoning with humans like this. We should capture them, and leave them on a desert island where they can never get out. Make sure the island has a lot of snakes, scorpions, alligators, and whatever else can destroy their kind.
we should thier thier country out as far as im concern.this way these terrorist will learn a lesson about screwing with us.but obama is such a wussie he will let it go like the last time and sit in the white house and laugh like congress and the senate did..yes there audio of video on you tube i heard.some where.
I can tell you are not a writer.
Why do I doubt your name?
I wonder if every hostage was carrying a gun if things would be different? I wonder why I never hear of mass shootings at gun ranges, according to liberals, the most dangerous place on earth.
Didn't you hear about Ford Hood!
Didn't you hear about Fort Hood? All the people in that large room were unarmed. Nidal Hasan is just a typical Muslim coward who shoots unarmed people and or little girls.
CIA.
Hey Seal Team Six...what are you guys doing this weekend?
I hope the situation with our troops can be resolved quickly. We lost so many troops over this senseless violence.
These fools don't realize they are just bringing more countries into the conflict in Mali. If they do not release the hostages unharmed immediately then all countries involved should declare all out war against them, and start a carpet bombing campaign on them! THIS WOULD MAKE ANYONE ELSE THINK TWICE
Randomly vaporize a Muslim city every day until they catch on.
I hate being sentenced to see a commercial before I view something that is of high importance live terrorist activity or natural disasters..etc. I would like to know what is going on as soon as possible instead of watching ads I dont care about first.
There's roughly two billion muslims and people still think these attacks are done by CIA or Mossad or someone else, that's amazing.
"The al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb group claimed it had captured the workers in retaliation for France's intervention in Mali, Reuters reported, citing two Mauritania-based news agencies."
Let the French take care of it. None of the companies involved are American.
ALL of us need to take care of it now or ALL of us will go down under the foot of Islam.
I guess the president and his flunkies were wrong! Al Quaida still is a threat all over the world.
"Mission Accomplished"?
Wow some of you need to loosen the straps on your tinfoil hats (Big mowma). They are so tight your pea brain is starving for a blood supply!
Hopefully it will turn out okay. But the workers knew they were going to a somewhat unstable part of the globe.
Half of the world is unstable.
Islam sucks the big one.
Not a good move by the terrorist.
Attacking nationals from about 8 countries will rally support against you.
It's coming sooner or later. Might as well get it started.
al-Qaida
Was helped in its founding by the US CIA to counter the Russian invasion of Afghanistan, when viewed in its full context, i.e. the Cold War, is seen as being not too much different from the US's entry into the Vietnam War or the less well known Korean Conflict, or for that matter the US's history going back now more than a century. Sometimes to make ideas manageable we have to generalize, but it is not to discard the heart felt specifics that are presented to disrupt a simplification. It is unfortunate that we have disrupters, rather than others to develop a better narrative or an alternative set of possibilities. If every fact was animated and interacted with other animated facts, we could let them do battle and find truth. It would be wildly success full for various simplified generalizations to compete for attention if for no other reason than to assure all that things that happen are not part of conspiracy. The path history that takes because of actions taken. History is shaped by actions taken in extreme that in hindsight are opposite in effect from that stated, often hysterically. The results are history, knowing as much is needed to make a better future rather than repeat the same mistakes again.
The scheme to connect the CIA to Afghanistan was fomented from a Texas Congress man, and since this was authored there and has had the consequences seen thus far. The projection into the future has very long, long legs into the future.
There is not the slightest fantasy to see that from continent of Africa across to the Sub-continent of India, the al-Qaida devil has been unleashed. It is not beyond comprehension to see that will take efforts from the inhabitants of those regions a very long time to correct for this problem. Since that it itself is unlikely then that notion assures all that such a CIA creation should never again be created or supported.
Now what we are concerned with is not the perpetual terrorism faced, but rather those who profit from it. For the terrorist they are always marked, but when found out, are likely to short lived?
The powers centers consists of the owners of the resource (oil) and the exploiter of the resource (oil) lost in the translation is that each has a profit interest in deliver the product and in the protection racket, that prevents any other course of action.
Perpetual terrorism is an instrument of the devil no matter who that devil is.
History continues …
Except for the fact what you posted is nothing more than a fable. A Texas Congress man was the give away. Couldn't even google a name there son. Terrible lie, but incompetence is the hallmark of an uneducated person with a computer.
We fought a stupid war in Libya.
Moarmar's weapons are showing up all over Africa now.
Mali Islamist
Algerian Terrorists
Nigerian Radicals.
Sudanese death squads
Libyan assassins.
We just destroyed a nation and gave a whole armies weapons to terrorist.
Barack is a foreign policy nightmare.
No where are we better off than before Barrack.
Not Mexico
N Korea
Iran
Iraq
Pakistan
Egypt
All of Africa.
I agree that we are empowering terrorists by destroying existing nations in Africa and Middle East. That trend started with Iraq war, and now continues in all earnest by overthrowing the non-threatening governments and replacing them with radical islamists. We are not better off with those countries you mentioned, and the list will only grow worse.
Except for the fact we have a friendlier Government in Iraq and Saddam was an implacable enemy.
Its ALL George Bushes fault guys..Didnt you get the Whitehouse Memo yet?
Ski Bum. Did Barack get Saddam in the last 4 years?