Algeria’s News Agency (APS) says that military operation by the Algerian Army to rescue hostages, held by militants at a remote natural gas complex has finished.
According to a report, released by the APS on Thursday, at least four foreigners, including a Frenchman, two Britons, and a Kenyan were freed and four more hostages, including two Britons and two Filipinos were killed after the Army conducted raids on the African country’s In Amenas gas facilities.
The military operation ended in the evening, the report added.
Earlier in the day, the kidnappers said that at least 35 foreigners and 15 militants were killed in the operation by Algerian forces.
The so-called al-Qaeda-linked militants in the African country had earlier claimed to be holding 41 foreign employees of the desert gas complex hostage at the site.
Kidnappers said their hostage taking is a reprisal for France’s intervention in Mali’s internal affairs and demanded an immediate end to the military offensive.
On January 11, France launched a military intervention in Mali under the pretext of halting the advance of militants in the African country.
Four days later, France announced that it would more than triple the number of its troopers in Mali from 800 to 2,500. French troops launched their first ground attack against rebel forces on January 16.
On Wednesday, two people, including a British national, reportedly died in an attack conducted by gunmen in three vehicles on a bus carrying foreign gas workers near the In Amenas gas field, west of the Libyan border.
The rebel forces fighting in Mali say they carried out the attack to avenge Algeria’s support for the French-led military operation in Mali.
MAM/HN
