British Petroleum, via European Pressphoto Agency
The remote In Amenas natural gas field in Algeria, the site of a terrorist attack and the taking of hostages on Wednesday.
BAMAKO, Mali — Dozens of hostages may still be held by militants at a remote gas field facility in the Algerian desert on Friday, according to Algeria’s state-run news agency, a day after the nation’s military launched an intense assault that freed captives, killed kidnappers but also left some hostages dead.
The agency said that the country’s special forces were seeking to reach a “peaceful solution” with a “terrorist group” that was still holding hostages at the gas field. It also gave a new sense of how many people may have been at the facility when the militants seized it on Wednesday, asserting that nearly 650 had managed to leave the site since then, including 573 Algerians and most of the 132 foreigners it said had been abducted.
But that still left many people unaccounted for, adding to the global concern about the fate of the hostages, who come from as many as 10 different nations. Estimates of the foreign casualties have ranged from 4 to 35, though the Algerian government has still not released any official tallies, leaving governments around the world scrambling for information.
Intensifying the uncertainties, a spokesman for the militants, who belong to a group called Al Mulathameen, said Friday that they planned further attacks in Algeria, according to a report by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, which maintains frequent contact with militant groups in the region. The spokesman called upon Algerians to “keep away from the installations of foreign companies, because we will suddenly attack where no one would expect it,” ANI reported.
A United States Africa Command spokesman, Ben Benson, said an Air Force aircraft had landed at an airstrip near the facility and was evacuating Americans and people from other countries involved in the hostage event. He said they would be flown to an American facility in Europe.
The Algerian military operation began on Thursday without consultation with the foreign governments whose citizens worked at the plant. It has been marked by a fog of conflicting reports, compounded by the remoteness of the gas plant, near a town called In Amenas hundreds of miles across the desert from the Algerian capital, Algiers, and close to the Libyan border.
Algeria’s state radio, citing an official source, reported on Friday that 18 militants had been killed, the first precise death count offered by state media. The state news agency also suggested that hundreds of civilians “had been freed,” though many of the employees inside the sprawling facility may have simply been on site at the time of the militant assault and were not necessarily being held by the kidnappers.
Speaking in Parliament, Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said the number of Britons at risk was estimated late Thursday at “less than 30.” That number has now been “quite significantly reduced,” he said, adding that he could not give details because the crisis is continuing.
Offering a broad account of Algeria’s handling of the operation, he told lawmakers: “We were not informed of this in advance. I was told by the Algerian prime minister while it was taking place. He said that the terrorists had tried to flee, that they judged there to be an immediate threat to the lives of the hostages and had felt obliged to respond.”
He added: “This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages in other areas of the site. The Algerian prime minister has just told me this morning that they are now looking at all possible routes to resolving this crisis.”
BP, the British-based energy giant that jointly controls the gas installation in Algeria, said in a statement on Friday that there was a “small number of BP employees” at the facility “whose current location and situation remain uncertain.” The company said it flew out 11 of its staff members along with hundreds of employees of other oil companies on Thursday.
The Japanese government said on Friday that three of its citizens had escaped but that 14 were still unaccounted for. On Friday, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta met with Mr. Cameron in London as Pentagon officials were continuing to try to learn details about the raid.
“We are working around the clock to ensure the safe return of our citizens and we will continue to be in close consultation with the Algerian government,” Mr. Panetta said in a speech in London before meeting with Mr. Cameron.
As Rescue Operation Continues in Algeria, Fate of Hostages Remains Unclear
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As Rescue Operation Continues in Algeria, Fate of Hostages Remains Unclear
