Algeria says 32 militants, 23 hostages killed at desert plant

A total of 23 hostages and 32 militants were killed after an attack on a gas plant in the Algerian desert, the Algerian interior ministry said on Saturday.   

Giving what it said was the final death toll of the attack at In Amenas, it also said 107 foreign hostages and 685 Algerian hostages had been released.                                  

This as, sixteen foreign hostages being  were freed, a source close to the crisis said. 
                                             
Those freed included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese, the source told Reuters. The nationalities of the others were not immediately clear.                      

Meanwhile, French President Francois Hollande said that attempts by the Algerian authorities to root out the hostage-takers were under way but that reports were now coming in that the operation had come to an end.       

"Hostages have been killed, assassinated in cowardly fashion," Hollande said.

Earlier, the defense minister said that France believes there are no more French nationals being held at the Algerian desert gas plant where Islamist militants took scores hostage.                                                    
Asked in an interview on France 3 TV if he could confirm  there were no more French hostages, Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said: "Yes. As far as we know today it is one Frenchman who was killed, sadly, and French nationals who were freed."                                          

For his part, the British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Saturday that most British nationals caught up in the hostage crisis at a gas complex in Algeria are now safe although the fate of fewer than 10 of them remained unknown.                        

"As of now, there are fewer than 10 British nationals at risk or unaccounted for, but that of course means that we must continue to prepare ourselves for bad news," Hague said in televised remarks.                                    

"I'm happy to say that we now have consular staff on the ground at In Amenas. They are already assisting British nationals there. Our ambassador is on the way there with further staff," he said.                                                     

As for Chief Executive Helge Lund, he said that two more employees of Norwegian energy firm Statoil have been "brought to safety" in Algeria, leaving six unaccounted for at a gas facility attacked by gunmen on Wednesday.                                               

"We can never lose hope ... bringing home our employees is our primary goal," Lund told a news conference. It was not immediately clear how the pair reached safety.                                                            
State-controlled Statoil, which is evacuating all non-essential personnel from various Algerian facilities, has so far taken 51 employees out of the country. The six employees, whose fate is not yet clear, are all Norwegian nationals.                        


REUTERS