Algerian forces find 25 bodies while combing desert gas plant
21 Jan 2013 6:27 AM IST
Algerian forces found the bodies of 25 hostages on Sunday as they combed a desert gas plant after a deadly stand-off with Islamists, and witnesses said nine Japanese captives had been executed.
Citing security sources, Anis Rahmani of private television channel Ennahar said the army discovered ‘the bodies of 25 hostages’ as they secured the sprawling In Amenas Sahara site.
Communications Minister Mohamed Said earlier told a radio station: ‘I fear that it (the toll) may be revised upward,’ after at least 23 foreigners and Algerians, mostly hostages, were killed since Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if the 23 were included in on Sunday's 25 toll. ‘In all nine Japanese were killed,’ one Algerian witness identified as Brahim said a day after special forces swooped on the gas plant run by Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria to end the siege. The first three were killed as they tried to escape from a bus taking them to the airport as the militant attack unfolded, witnesses said. ‘We were all afraid when we heard bursts of gunfire at 5:30 am (0430 GMT) on Wednesday, after we realised that they had just killed our Japanese colleagues who tried to flee from the bus,’ said Riad, who works for Japan's JGC Corp engineering firm. The gunmen then took the others to the residential compound, where they had seized hundreds of hostages, he said.
‘A terrorist shouted 'open the door!' with a strong north American accent, and opened fire. Two other Japanese died then and we found four other Japanese bodies’ in the compound, he added, choking with emotion.
In Tokyo, a foreign ministry official said: ‘We are in a position not to comment on this kind of information at all. Governments scrambled to track down their missing citizens as more details emerged of the deadly showdown after Islamists of the ‘Signatories in Blood’ group raided the plant, demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.
‘Tragically, we now know that three British nationals have been killed, and a further three are believed to be dead.
Citing security sources, Anis Rahmani of private television channel Ennahar said the army discovered ‘the bodies of 25 hostages’ as they secured the sprawling In Amenas Sahara site.
Communications Minister Mohamed Said earlier told a radio station: ‘I fear that it (the toll) may be revised upward,’ after at least 23 foreigners and Algerians, mostly hostages, were killed since Wednesday.
It was not immediately clear if the 23 were included in on Sunday's 25 toll. ‘In all nine Japanese were killed,’ one Algerian witness identified as Brahim said a day after special forces swooped on the gas plant run by Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria to end the siege. The first three were killed as they tried to escape from a bus taking them to the airport as the militant attack unfolded, witnesses said. ‘We were all afraid when we heard bursts of gunfire at 5:30 am (0430 GMT) on Wednesday, after we realised that they had just killed our Japanese colleagues who tried to flee from the bus,’ said Riad, who works for Japan's JGC Corp engineering firm. The gunmen then took the others to the residential compound, where they had seized hundreds of hostages, he said.
‘A terrorist shouted 'open the door!' with a strong north American accent, and opened fire. Two other Japanese died then and we found four other Japanese bodies’ in the compound, he added, choking with emotion.
In Tokyo, a foreign ministry official said: ‘We are in a position not to comment on this kind of information at all. Governments scrambled to track down their missing citizens as more details emerged of the deadly showdown after Islamists of the ‘Signatories in Blood’ group raided the plant, demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.
‘Tragically, we now know that three British nationals have been killed, and a further three are believed to be dead.
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