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Subscribe to RSSAfter the death of Western workers in an attack on a gas plant in the Sahara, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta vows to hunt down the militants responsible. NBC News' Annabel Roberts reports.
The death toll in the bloody Algeria hostage siege is likely to rise, Algeria warned on Sunday as governments struggled to confirm reports 23 Western workers – including some Americans - had been killed.
A day after the desert crisis was ended by Algerian troops, 25 bodies were discovered inside the gas pumping facility that was stormed by Islamist militants on Wednesday, according to reports cited by Reuters and the Associated Press.
Confusion still surrounds the deadly incident, which has renewed global fears about the likelihood of terror attacks and the safety of Westerners around the world.
It has also left other governments, including Britain, with a frustrating wait for further information out of the west African country.
Algeria’s government said Saturday that 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed during ‘rescue’ assaults launched by its own forces, with 107 foreign hostages and 685 Algerian hostages freed.
However, Minister of Communication Mohamed Said this would rise when final numbers were issued in the coming hours, Reuters reported.
"I am afraid unfortunately to say that the death toll will go up," Said was quoted as saying by the official APS news agency.
The U.S. government confirmed Friday that one of the dead hostages was Frederick Buttaccio from Texas.
The exact number of other Americans involved, and their fate, remains unclear.
President Barack Obama said on Saturday the United States was seeking from Algerian authorities a fuller understanding of what took place, but said "the blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out."
Britain on Sunday confirmed that three of its citizens and one British resident had been killed in the Algerian military operation.
Prime Minister David Cameron echoed Obama’s sentiments, saying responsibility for the deaths “lies squarely with the terrorists who launched the attack,” regardless of questions about the Algerian government's response.
The hostage-taking illustrated the global threat of terrorism which “requires a global response,” Cameron said Sunday.
One Briton had already was confirmed killed when the gunmen seized the hostages before dawn on Wednesday at the plant, run by Norway's Statoil along with Britain's BP and Algeria's state oil company.
The AP reported that "numerous" bodies were found at the pumping facility by Algerian de-mining squads searching for explosives, according to an Algerian government spokesman.
Statoil said five of its workers, all Norwegian nationals, were still missing. Japanese workers are also unaccounted for, Reuters said.
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Details emerge in militant takeover, rescue operation at Algeria gas field
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In much bigger news to msnbc, Pres Obama was sworn in for 2nd term.
wag the dog.
If this action by the Algerian military is indicative of Algeria's stance on hostage events, I would suggest our own military step up and take a few notes. Strong, bloody and effective... Isn't that really what military intervention is about?
Expats understand that they are working in a hostile environment, otherwise, locals would be employed there. Oil companies know the risks, yet choose to pay a premium for individuals that can operate and maintain these revenue streams.
Because, in the end, that really is all it's about, resource control and revenue streams provided by the marketing of African resources to Europe.
Those pesky Islamists are just a fly in the ointment.
Bravo. Remember FARC?
From what i understand, Algeria has been a hotbed of Islamic extremism for quite a few years....gutting the French only to have weaker governments come in after independence. So much like Afghanistan, et. al, it has had warring factions that really care nothing about Islam, but use it as a war call to rile up factions and take over simply for the sake of violence and narcisstic pride. If you think it is a uniquely Muslim thing...just remember the FARC in Colombia and that nullifies it. I know several engineers that were basically flown to different transmission stations, refineries and plants straight from Malta to them in the Algerian desert under armed guards and flown out again....never, ever landing in Algiers because it was too dangerous.
1. These engineers and consultants who are from many different Western nations are doing this work for one reason: income and in some cases tax free income, ie $$$$$$$. They know and should expect that if any political violence or risk comes their way, they are themselves responsible for their circumstances and demise. No home country should be put in the unenviable situation of trying to negotiate with these louse captors and other situations of risk that goes with the job. Period. This is risk v. reward at its funtioning example where safety can never be assured.
2. It appears to me with Algeria's violent evolution and vast petroleum resources that, yet, another faction that seemed to have origens in Mali started this type of disturbance coming across the desert making hostage demands and creating havoc. Again, these are thugs using religion or political cause for their substantiation when what they really want is money too. As you can tell, some thugs are just more stupid than others by blowing up their hostages. (the FARC in Colombia had it down to a fine art before our drug trade really didn't need their cocaine location) Algeria may come across as wimpy, but remember, when there are those hoodlums that mess with their sources of income, such as petroleum or gas, they will not put up with it. Hence the bloodbath.
Don't spout or spume over what fanatical religion jihadists or lack of proper international law can or cannot do. These were businessmen over there that took a risk. Those thugs were wanna be businessmen and wanna be tough guys looking for a revenue source too. I believe this is known as caveat emptor....a tenet of free enterpirse and certainly not the quran.
Right on. These terrorists are in it for money and power just like everybody else, except we don't kill or squash people's right over it.
If I was an engineer working in a hotbed abroad by day, I'd be an RPG trained worker by night. If all workers had access to an armory with a weapon specialty, with some lookout at all times, the terrorists would be screwed.
Workers should have the right to defend themselves instead of standing there like lambs tied to a post.
Obama used the word terrorists??? I thought that he made that word illegal???
Seems to me that this was a mission planned by an incompetent fool.
If the goal was to rescue the hostages, and Algerian Security Forces went in - guns ablaze - resulting in the deaths of the hostages they were supposed to rescue, well... what was the point?
Thus far, have lost less than 5% of all the hostages. Not too bad, in the big picture of things.
If they're finished, the death toll won't go up, they're already dead. They just haven't finished counting. Too bad these people were sacrificed to Allah/Islam, but at least some Islamists were keeled. The more Islamists keeled, the merrier. If we keel a million Islamists a day and they don't reproduce, they'll all be gone in about four years.
Islam is poison.
Jeez, how long does it take to figure out who got killed and where they are from. What kind of an organization is that?
You do not negotiate with terrorists. Algeria should not be condemned for its actions. The world wants to throw the blame on Algeria? Who took hostages?
The bottom line is that we need to focus on making the USA a huge energy exporting country and employ our people here. The more export facilities we have for natural gas, refined products, coal, etc the harder it will be for anyone to want to invest in any country where it's employees are targets.
It is not hard to sell energy exports from a stable, humane country with the rule of law. The pressure then will be put back on these countries in the middle east to solve their problems, stop the hate spewing private schools they so love, show them that their attachment to stone age philosophies are only going to make them poor. As a very good friend of mine from the middle east said to me, "we love our Islam, however we love money better".
I am surprised the dumb ass in the White House and the liberal left isn’t crying for gun control in Algeria. Remember it is guns killing people not terrorists. Four more years of this lying, narcissistic POS and his administration to deal with, it will be a long four years.
All I want to see is Bitch Hiollary ,Rince AXLEROD and Patraeus get thier asses hung for ther Benghazi .lying YELLOWBAMA doesn"t have gutsenough to wipe his own ass. HE"S responsible for our peole getting killed inBenghazi. because he hadto go to Vegas for a fund raiser.Then his bitch has to spend millions of dolars in our tax dollars going to Spain shopping . She is a 2 bager in case the other falls off .In the case of gun conyrol , I've seen peple trade guns for food stamps . Bring food stamps back like it was , you can"t buy anything you can"t eat . People go in stores and buy 4 or 5 big bags of chips and 5 or6 12 packs of ddrinks .Mexicans and blaclks squirt out a kid every 9mos snd 10 minutes to ride the welfare line .the drug testing for medicare and medicade and unemployment is thebest thing to happen .I worked in refineries 50 yrs . pissing in a bottle has saved soo nany lives. If your not on drugs , you don"t have to worry .