ALGERIA: Soldiers guard checkpoint in Tiguentourine where the Algerian military carry out a final assault to release all remaining hostages at a gas installation overtaken by Islamists and keep the media at bay as they storm the base

Record ID: 574152

  • Title: ALGERIA: Soldiers guard checkpoint in Tiguentourine where the Algerian military carry out a final assault to release all remaining hostages at a gas installation overtaken by Islamists and keep the media at bay as they storm the base
  • Date: 19th January 2013
  • Summary: IN AMENAS, ALGERIA (JANUARY 19, 2013) (REUTERS) ROAD SIGN WHICH READS IN ARABIC AND ENGLISH: IN AMENAS' STREET VIEW VARIOUS OF SAHARA DESERT IN IN AMENAS VEHICLE DRIVING THROUGH SAHARA DESERT/ ROAD SIGN READING: 'TIGUENTOURINE' (SPELLED TIGANTOURINE BY REUTERS WIRES) MORE OF ROAD SIGN VAN AT CHECKPOINT ROAD SIGN WHICH READS: 10KM (6MILES) TO GAS INSTALLATION IN 'TIGUENTOURINE' (SPELLED TIGANTOURINE BY REUTERS WIRES) VARIOUS OF SECURITY CHECKPOINTS VEHICLE DRIVING THROUGH ROAD / SIGN READING: 'TIGANTOURINE' MORE OF VEHICLES DRIVING THROUGH SAHARA DESERT HELICOPTER
  • Embargoed: 3rd February 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Algeria
  • Country: Algeria
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA44M54DXZFQZ28SKX1C9GZ4JQG
  • Story Text: Authorities have not allowed any media to enter the Tiguentourine site of the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach on Saturday (January 19) where the army carried out what they said was a final assault on al Qaeda-linked gunmen holed up in the desert gas plant.
    An Algerian soldier stands at a checkpoint near a road sign indicating 10 km (6 miles) to a gas installation in Tiguentourine (spelled Tigantourine by Reuters wires).
    The Algerian military said they killed 11 of the Islamists after they took the lives of seven foreign hostages during Saturday's operation.
    A source familiar with the operation told Reuters that the assault was over and the military was inside the plant to clear out mines.
    The state oil and gas company, Sonatrach, said the militants who attacked the plant on Wednesday and took a large number of hostages had booby-trapped the gas complex with explosives.
    The exact death toll among the gunmen and the foreign and Algerian workers at the plant, which is near the town of In Amenas, close to the Libyan border, remained unclear.
    Earlier on Saturday, Algerian special forces found 15 burned bodies at the plant. Efforts were underway to identify the bodies, the source told Reuters, and it was not clear how they had died.
    Sixteen foreign hostages were freed on Saturday, a source close to the crisis said. They included two Americans, two Germans and one Portuguese.
    Britain said fewer than 10 of its nationals at the plant were unaccounted for.
    The attack on the plant swiftly turned into the biggest international hostage crises in decades, pushing Saharan militancy to the top of the global agenda.
    Reports earlier put the number of hostages killed at between 12 to 30, with many foreigners still unaccounted for, among them Norwegians, Japanese, Britons and Americans.
    The U.S. State Department said on Friday one American, Frederick Buttaccio, had died but gave no further details. The French defence minister said he understood there were no more French workers among the hostages.
    Two Norwegians were released overnight, leaving six unaccounted for, while Romania said three of its nationals had been freed. A number of Japanese engineering workers were still unaccounted for.
    Scores of Westerners and hundreds of Algerian workers were inside the heavily fortified compound when it was seized before dawn on Wednesday by Islamist fighters who said they wanted a halt to a French military operation in neighbouring Mali.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2013. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register