Algeria Launches Ruthless Attack To End Hostage Standoff

in amenas

Algeria has gone guns blazing into the oil field raided by Al-Qaeda militants yesterday.

Earlier several Western hostages were killed by an Algerian helicopter strike.

A British security source told CBS News "that the Algerians were firing from helicopters at anything that moved."

A UK Government official tells BBC that a "proactive Algerian military operation to free the hostages is under way" after Algeria reportedly turned down UK assistance in the operation.

Algeria's official news agency reports that Algerian army has freed two British hostages from Scotland, a Kenyan and a French hostage.

A local source told Reuters six hostages and eight kidnappers were killed by the helicopter strike while Mauritania's ANI news agency and Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that 34 of the captives and 15 of the captors had been killed.

One of the kidnappers told Mauritania's ANI news agency that seven hostages — two Americans, three Belgians, one Japanese and one British citizen — remained at the facility after the strike.

Some of the Western hostages escaped. An employee at the In Amenas oil field told CBS that four foreigners escaped while Reuters reported that 25 foreign hostages escaped. A spokesman for the Irish foreign ministry told Reuters that an Irishman who was kidnapped was now safe.

Other reports indicate that up to 600 Algerian workers had escaped, though they were being held under much less restrictive conditions. The number reportedly held yesterdya was 150.

The U.S. is largely in the dark. A senior U.S. official told Martha Raddatz of The Atlantic that "the situation remains unclear in Algeria. They are trying to get clarity but just don't know anything for sure."

More to come as information becomes available.

SEE ALSO: Hostages Killed in Algeria, Dozens More Escape

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