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Subscribe to RSSIntelligence officials tell NBC News four of the five Americans working at the natural gas complex survived: two escaped and two more are being held. The kidnappers are saying they will exchange the US hostages for two high-profile terror suspects currently in US custody. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
One American was killed and two escaped unharmed from a natural gas complex in Algeria that was stormed by armed militants, U.S. officials said Friday. The fate of two others was unclear.
The officials said there was a total of five Americans at the In Amenas plant in eastern Algeria when the attackers seized dozens of hostages on Wednesday. The officials say two of the Americans managed to conceal themselves when the attack began and later escaped unharmed.
One U.S. citizen was found dead Friday by Algerian forces that had launched a raid on Thursday in an attempt to free the hostages, the officials said.
The deceased American was identified as Frederick Buttaccio, a U.S. official confirmed. Buttaccio's remains have been recovered from the plant and his family has been notified, the official said.
The official did not know the circumstances of Buttaccio's death.
Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed Friday that they were holding two American hostages and would exchange them for two people being held in the United States — the blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and Aafie Siddiqque a 40-year-old Pakistani neuroscientist and mother of three, who was convicted of attacking U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.
That would appear to account for all five Americans thought to have been at the plant, one U.S. official said, if the militants are telling the truth.
On Friday, the Algerian military had launched a second raid on the multinational cabal of kidnappers — led by a one-eyed al-Qaida associate — who laid siege to the In Amenas gas plant on Wednesday, state TV reported.
The situation was fluid, but the U.S. said one thing was carved in stone: It would not be cutting any deals with the captors.
"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said of reports the militants were seeking the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life term for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill U.S. soldiers after being arrested in Afghanistan in 2008.
Nuland confirmed there were Americans still being held alive but did not say how many.
The official Algerian news service APS said a total of 132 foreign nationals were taken hostage, and 100 had been freed by midday Friday. It said more than 500 Algerians had also been rescued.
Citing a security source, APS said 12 hostages, including some Westerners, were killed when Algeria staged its first rescue raid on Thursday without consulting other countries in advance. Eighteen militants were killed, it reported.
McFaul family via Reuters
Belfast native Stephen McFaul (right) is pictured with his sons Dylan (left) and Jake in this family handout photo taken four years ago and made available Thursday.
NBC News could not confirm the figures. The French government confirmed one of its citizens had died, and its defense minister said in an interview on France 3 TV Saturday morning that he believed no more French nationals were being held at the plant.
One worker told Reuters that the hostage-takers were out for blood.
"The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels," said the man, who gave his name as Abdelkader. "'We will kill them,' they said."
The brother of escapee Stephen McFaul said the hostages had their mouths taped and their necks draped with explosives. They were being trucked around the compound when the Algerian military hit the compound with explosives, he told Reuters.
"The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom," Brian McFaul said after speaking with his brother’s wife. "He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed."
A French catering employee who worked at the plant said he spent 40 hours hiding under a bed after the militants stormed in Wednesday with a spray of gunfire, only emerging when the soldiers arrived.
"I could see myself ending up in a wooden box," Alexandre Berceaux told Europe 1 radio.
One rescued hostage told Algerian TV that the ordeal was an "exciting episode" and he was "impressed" with the army.
"I feel sorry for anybody who has been hurt, but other than that, I quite enjoyed it," the man said.
Algerian TV via Reuters TV
A British escapee, interviewed by Algerian TV, says the Algerian army did a "fantastic job" with Thursday's rescue.
Another said he was "very, very relieved to be out."
"Obviously, we still don't really know what is happening back on the site, so as much as we are glad to be out, our thoughts are with colleagues who are still there at the moment," he said on Algerian TV.
The militants' attack on the plant, operated in part by BP, was reportedly masterminded by Mokhtar bel Mokhtar, an Algerian with ties to al-Qaida who specializes in lucrative kidnappings and smuggling, according to U.S. officials. He earned the nickname Mr. Marlboro for trafficking cigarettes.
The raiding jihadists were described as a motley crew by an escaped radio operator who told Reuters: "Some were clean, others were dirty, some with beards, others without, and among them a French national with sunglasses."
The Mauritanian news agency ANI reported the group was retaliating over French military action against Islamic incursions in neighboring Mali. But the French operation began just a week ago and the assault on the plant appeared to be long-planned.
On Friday, another possible motive emerged, as ANI said the militants put forth the offer of the prisoner swap.
The offer was not verified by NBC News, but an ANI editor told The Associated Press the kidnappers’ spokesman began calling Thursday with "sounds of war in the background" and "threatened to kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces tried to liberate them."
British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons in London that Algeria maintains it green-lighted Thursday’s rescue raid because hostages’ lives were in danger when it appeared the militants were trying to spirit them out of the compound.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she spoke with the prime minister of Algeria on Friday and requested that the "utmost care" be taken to protect the hostages.
"This is an extremely dangerous situation," she said. "No one knows better than Algeria how ruthless these groups are."
Kari Huus, Catherine Chomiak and Courtney Kube of NBC News and The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Related stories:
Expert: Islamists' Algeria raid could inspire copycat attacks
Details emerge in militant takeover, rescue operation at Algeria gas field
Violence in Mali, Algeria raises fresh fear of radical Islam
US military cargo planes to help French in Mali
Algerian militant dubbed 'Mr Marlboro' raked in millions from kidnappings
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When militants like this demand the release of their fellows from our prisons (or else they'll kill the hostages). We should kill the people they wanted released if they follow through.
I think we need to go further an d accept the fact that throughout history successful wars require a campaign against the civilian populace, which creates a reason for the enemy to give up. With Japan it was the bomb, not Guadalcanal, Midway etc. With the Confederacy it was Sherman's rape and pillage on his march to the sea, not Gettysburg or Vicksburg. These terrorists have a home. Maybe its time their homes and peoples need to become our focus, as ours are theirs. No I don't care about the stupid Progressive idea of being "better than anyone else". Its neither true nor desirable.
skibum - you want to remove the US from the Geneva convention?
Let's stay out of this mess. Let France or whoever handle it.
Oh no, the Algerian military was doing exactly what it was ordered to. Secure facility at all costs. Civilians expendable. Somebody wanted their oil and they didn't care about human lives. They can always hire more people when they get the facility back.
Take a good look, folks. This is how the world currently works.
I think they just have a different opinion.......terrorists take hostages, then attack and kill the terrorists....and if some hostages get killed, then that is part of the price to let terrorists know "do not come here and try it again"
I want to know what anti islamist movie caused this debacle? Where is Rice when you need her?
Those here who blame Obama and the US Gov't for not knowing, and ultimately, not doing something to avoid the carnage, please tell me why the government should do any damn thing at all to care for employees of a private company in a foreign country. Shouldn't the corporation be blamed for not taking care of its employees? What a bunch of hypocrites, saying the gov't has no responsibilities at home to take care of its own citizens but blaming the same gov't for not doing so in a foreign country.
Demonicrats are the people wanting to recreate the world and all the societies in their own image...then you start squawking when something goes wrong and you can't find anyone else to blame for the sh*t you get into...shame on you Mr Holler...
I care more for working Americans who pay taxes than the illegals Obama lets in who collect welfare and account for 34% of the prison population of California. By the way this attack, as well as Mali have been traced to the plethora of arms to hit the region after Obama the disgrace gave Libya to Al-Queda, so this is a direct result of Obama's incompetence and in addition to our Ambassador he has more American blood on his hands.
@skibum609 your just strange man...blaming obama for the illegal immagaration problem...when illegals have been coming here for 50 years or more...just really have a deep hatred for blacks and brown...i'll pray for you...to which god i will pray i dont know yet, but i will pray...dont hit a tree when you go sking buddy you will only blame that on obama also
Are these the same terrorist that killed our people in Libya?
If there wasn't a photo op for Obama his administration wouldn't know anything about the terrorist...
A retired four-star admiral is now claiming that Barack Obama intentionally conspired with America’s enemies to stage a bogus attack and the kidnapping of an American ambassador so he could “negotiate” the release of a “hostage” and bolster his mediocre approval ratings just prior to the election!
The Washington Examiner, quoting retired Four-Star Admiral James Lyons, writes: “the attack on the American Consulate in Benghazi… was the result of a bungled abduction attempt…. the first stage of an international prisoner exchange… that would have ensured the release of Omar Abdel Rahman, the ‘Blind Sheik’…”
were not buying that one with monoply money
You chose to work in those effed up countries then you take your chances on dying there. Who cares...NEXT
You choose to live in the inner city and get murdered by a stray bullet in a drive by who cares....NEXT.
Oh you mean the Inner City's that have all the strict Gun Laws in place already?
You know the ones that say you cannot legally own a specific weapon...
A drive by isn't committed by a person who legally \owns a weapon, it is committed by gang bangers that should not have the weapons due to all the gun laws they live under..
And no one says you have to go into an unstable part of the world to make triple pay, and then think well the good ole U.S. of A will bail my butt out WHEN the poop hits the fan.
NEXT
Why were the Americans in a hostle area anyway? I tell you why MONEY, Greed get in the way of good thinking.
Encourage your family to ride the subway.
This is from aljazeera website
At least 30 hostages and 11 members of an al-Qaeda-affiliated group were killed when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant to free the captives, drawing international attention to al-Qaeda in North Africa.
Eight Algerians and seven foreigners, including two British, two Japanese and a French national, were among the dead, an Algerian security source said.
The military says some of the gunmen who took hundreds of hostages at the gas facility, are still holed up inside.
Nine foreign nationals were released but the fate of a number of those who had been held by the fighters remains unclear.
The hostages included Algerians, as well as foreigners from at least nine countries - including the US, Britain and Japan.
At least 22 hostages are still missing - eight from Norway and 14 from Japan.
If the Obama administration doesn't care about the Benghazi Massacre why should they care about what is happening in Algeria???
They shouldn't. These idiots chose to stay in an Islamist-infested dung heap of a pseudo-nation, Nobody held a gun to their head and made them go there. But some did hold a gun to make them stay there - the Islamists.
These people were drawing hostile duty pay...they gambled, they lost...next players up...
Women who bear the children of men who don't work gambled on their support and lost. Let them die off....next.
I realize this may sound harsh, and demented but let's face reality. I feel for the people being held hostage for just doing a job in a sensitive part of the world but they knew the risks involved if they didn't they were very nieve. There should be a policy in place, world wide, that kidnapping and/or hgostage taking will not be tolerated, no negotiations except a one time demand that all hostages be released immediately or face exrtermination. Harsh but effective.
The United States Government should tell all of it's citizen's if you go outside the US your on your on don't ask the Military to help if something happen.
So ... how do you feel about a Doctor (employed by a shady non-profit from Colorado with links to a current administration official) working in "murky" circumstance in Afghanistan being abducted held for ransom and then being freed by a "SEAL" team at the cost of one of it's members being killed?
american -
"The United States Government should tell all of it's citizen's if you go outside the US your on your on don't ask the Military to help if something happen."
Why does every problem have a federal government solution...even if these people were as dumb as a box of rocks there's no reason for federal intervention...there's nothing in the constitution about the responsibility of the federal government safe...every time the federal government jumps into these issues it is just an excuse to raise taxes for them to spend in Vegas...
There is a State Dept website that has detailed information on the political and physical conditions in every country, including terrorist or kidnap threat, diseases, natural disasters, etc. Read it before you make travel plans or accept overseas employment.
As long as they tell all their citizens that if they bear children they cannot afford, get in an accident without insurance then its their tough luck.
They were dead anyway, if they saved even one person they did good.
This bit of nastiness will make a great movie a little later on this year! Fabulous plot! A hated world wide oil giant used as a pawn by religious zealots that stage their attack in a Third World militaristic country with zero tolerance for terrorists. The United States leadership sits and guffaws while the hard-line military simply kills everyone... it will be sooo cooool!
According to the Bible and Jesus,a good guy is not a guy with a gun,Jesus
sent out his disciples without a sword,and said to his own disciple,all who take
the sword perish by the sword,and Jesus said he fulfills all the
prophets,including the prophet Isaiah,and so Isaiah 2:4,he will beat swords to
plowshares,and they will practice war no more.The sword Jesus carries and wields
is the word of God,the sword of the Spirit,God's Holy Spirit,the sword of his
mouth,a doubled edged sword,obey it and it can save you,disobey it and it can
destroy you. Sword of the Spirit,God's Holy Spirit,the word of God would be:
Galatians 6:7,Be not deceived,God is not mocked,for whatsoever people sow they
reap,man sows the sword and reaps the sword,even the swords of wars.And Jesus
uses the sword of his mouth,the word of God,sword of the Spirit,God's Holy
Spirit,which Jesus left with us,uses it in Revelation 1:16,2:16.19:15,and
19:21,not the swords of guns and bombs,man uses that,God doesn't need to use
that,and we must follow Jesus and not use it,but use the word of God,even the
Word Himself,Jesus.As Jesus says,nothing is impossible following God,if you
follow God and put God first.
It's not Sunday, so why the schooling? By the way, plenty of people following god found it was impossible to fly by flapping their arms after falling off a ten story building, or live underwater without a source of air after being trapped in a sinking ship, or jump into a volcano without getting burnt to crisp.
damn those people dont they know there is a ban on all assault weapons.. How dare they use weapons like that to take hostages.
@tbo196 just stop you sound stupid...............no really
Actually sounds samrter than you though and has a better name. You strike me the typical Northern Limousine liberal.
Gen Sherman,
I'm laughing AT you.....I'm laughing some more.......
well it sounds stupid because these people are outside of the united states and dont have to abide by our laws...so his attempt at sarcaism failed...by the way im from atlanta georgia born and raised
im 100% with you man, its just sick.... it snowed last night: i hate obama...i got drunk last night a hit a mailbox:its obammmmmmmas fault.....my tax return cam a week late:obama is doing this on purpose......a american atubes his toe in hong kong: obama knew in advance that that rock would be there.....i mean come on they have sooooooooooooo much haatred for black men its sick...they will say whatever and do whatever to make themselves feel better about themselves and belittle someone else...how can a man who ever they are even the president know what someone else is thinking in advance i dont care how much intel they have...why dont we blame elizabeth the 2nd for whats going on she has world class intel and is closer to algeria that america why didnt she ? then one of these fools said algeria is in the middle east LOLOLOL this lets you know how dumb these people really are i mean theyve never seen a map or just dont care about anything in the world outside their small hick town....ALGERIA IS IN AFRICA not the MIDDLEAST...then they say stupid names about obama like pobama,obammy lord but dont let you say something about their worldclass jesus or bush their ready to break the computer and shoot up night club to save america from the gentiles ...LOL fricking nut cases
Apparently you were not content to appear stupid in a one sentence post, but this is just overkill. Every expert who doesn't run the risk of breaking their nose if Obama stops short blames this on the fall of Libya, which is 100% what Obama wanted and contributed to. His plan. His failure. Not his blame because for some racial reason we hold him to the lowest standard of every President in history.
Gen. Sherman,
Actually, s(hmuck......I could have sworn you've been telling us for over four years now that it's Bush's fault.
PLEASE.....Turn off your computer and slowly move away from the keyboard before you embarrass and hurt yourself any further..............
@skibum609 and like i said before the FRENCH led the assault on LIBYA or did you not know that you just know obama backed them so hey its obamas fault that the guns were taken to other countries...your own words prove your hatred and stupidity...in all reserve we hold obama to a higher standard that why you expect him to turn water into wine and a wendys burger into prime rib...come off of it man i know your type a black man in the white house for 8 years is just eating away at your soul every day...the US involvment in these countries go back to NIXON and his MOB ran government...or are you to young to remember anything before DADDY BUSH and his IRAN CONTRA COCAINE RAN GOVERNMENT...
@bernie-1722829 unlike many other people im smart enough to know that W isnt smart enough to think hisself out of a paperbag...now DADDY BUSH on the other hand and his new age zionist buddies now if you said it was their fault i would have to complie
Many Westerners likely killed by Algerian military
Ian Johnston, Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News, why don't wait until you have all the facts verified before you give us one of your "speculation" stories?
This is such shoddy journalism!
"Bin Laden is dead, Al Queda is on the run and GM is alive".
I'm laughing...........I'm laughing some more............
Barak Obama's mentor Jimmy Carter had the Iranian hostages and now Obama has the Nigerian hostages. I'm sure Barry will be very concerned for their well being while at all of his parties this weekend and Monday! How many people are unemployed? How much are we going to spend on all of the inauguration festivities?
ALGERIA not NIGERIA...come on im sure you have a map some where
Apologies for the typo! That 1,300 mile difference changes everything! No wonder we are partying instead of being concerned with the well being of our citizens! General Idiot!
Less than 6% unemployed in my area. Thanks Obama
That's great, enjoy your 2% payroll tax increase sucker! Now maybe he can focus on the rest of the country!
@DavidB333 hey its your words not mine...if i was looking for a certain place i couldnt count on you being id be off by 1300 miles buddy roe
If the big $ sighs are all you think of and your safety isn't of the utmost importance...go work in these hell holes.
Our military is there to make sure you have a right to do that, God bless the men and women that risk their lives for all of us.
To go for a private sector job....better think about that.
Why is that piece of ugly excrement, the Blind Sheik, still alive? What a bunch of PC morons we are.
Lock N Load Boys "@}
Prisoner exchange for a terrorist that bombed the World Trade Center in 1993! Too bad under Clinton's watch back then when the CIA had Osama Bin Laden in their sights to take him down, told them not too. He didn't do a very good job of securing the Nation back then; just think if he had, the buildings and people might just still be here!