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Death Toll Rises in Algerian Standoff; More Corpses Found
(about 3 hours later)
BAMAKO, Mali — A day after the four-day hostage crisis in the Sahara reached a bloody conclusion, Algerian officials on Sunday sifted through charred bodies and scattered weaponry in search of explanations, as world powers began calculating the costs and consequences of a broader fight against Islamists in North Africa
BAMAKO, Mali — Algerian officials said on Sunday that the death toll from the four-day hostage siege at a gas-producing complex in the Sahara was growing grimmer, as security forces combed the site and discovered many more corpses, some badly burned.
The confrontation at a remote gas field taken over by militants ended Saturday as the Algerian Army carried out a final assault, killing most of the remaining kidnappers and raising the total of hostages killed to at least 23, Algerian officials said.
“A good 20” more bodies were found at the site Sunday morning, a senior Algerian official said Sunday, though it was unclear whether they were militants or hostages. The official said that at least 7 Americans were “liberated,” and that some militants were captured.
Authorities indicated on Sunday that the death toll would certainly rise. A senior Algerian official said that “a good 20” more bodies were found at the site Sunday morning, though he said it was unclear whether they were militants, hostages or both. The official said that at least 7 Americans were “liberated,” and that some of the militants were arrested.
“There are corpses that haven’t been identified,” the official said.
“There are corpses that haven’t been identified,” the official said.
In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron also revised earlier estimates of fatalities, saying on Sunday that three British citizens were killed and three more were believed to have died, along with one resident of Britain. Earlier, the government said five Britons and one British resident had died or were unaccounted for after the final rescue attempt.
Once they are, the preliminary count of 23 dead hostages seemed certain to rise, officials acknowledged.
In a televised address from his official country retreat on Sunday, Mr. Cameron said: “We have had successes in recent years in reducing the threat from some parts of the world, but the threat has grown, particularly in North Africa.”
“I’m very afraid that the numbers are going to go up,” the Algerian communications minister, Mohamed Said Belaid, told France 24 Television. Over a dozen hostages were still missing on Sunday, including some Americans, officials said. The confrontation at a remote gas field taken over by militants ended Saturday as the Algerian Army carried out a final assault. The details of the desert standoff and the final battle for the plant remained murky — as did information about which hostages died and how.
“This is a global threat and it will require a global response. It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months. It requires a response that is patient and painstaking, that is tough but also intelligent, but above all has an absolutely iron resolve and that is what we will deliver over these coming years,” he said.
Still, new details emerged on Sunday. The attackers were a multinational group from six Arab, African and non-African countries, Mr. Belaid told the official APS news agency. He would not identify the countries by name, but other senior officials said that there were indications the group originated in northern Mali and was once linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al Qaeda’s North African branch.
He added: “What we face is an extremist, Islamist, Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. Just as we had to deal with that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, so the world needs to come together to deal with this threat in North Africa.”
It is not clear yet how many attackers were involved, though Algerian officials say at least 32 were killed. For the first time on Sunday, Afghan officials said that some attackers were taken alive, contrary to earlier reports that they were all killed.
The group “wants to destroy our way of life, it believes in killing as many people as it can. We need to work with others to defeat the terrorists and to close down the ungoverned spaces where they thrive with all the means that we have,” he said, reprising a theme he has struck with increasing passion as the attack in Algeria unfolded.
A Mali-based Algerian jihadist with ties to Al Qaeda, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has claimed responsibility through spokesmen — and is blamed by the Algerians — for masterminding the raid.
The details of the desert standoff and the final battle for the plant remained murky — as did information about which hostages died and how — with even the White House suggesting late Saturday that it was unclear what had happened. In a brief statement, President Obama said his administration would “remain in close touch with the government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place.”
The militants said the attack was carried out in retaliation for the French troops sweeping into Mali this month to stop an advance of Islamist rebels south toward the capital, although they later said they had been planning an attack in Algeria for some time.
The British defense minister, Philip Hammond, called the loss of life “appalling and unacceptable” after reports that up to seven hostages were killed in the final hours of the hostage crisis, and he said that the leaders of the attack would be tracked down. The Algerian government said that 32 militants had been killed since Wednesday, although it cautioned that its casualty counts were provisional. Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta, who appeared with Mr. Hammond at a news conference in London, said he did not yet have reliable information about the fate of the Americans at the facility, although a senior Algerian official said two had been found “safe and sound.”
The attack began with heavy gunfire early Wednesday, and continued through the fierce, helicopter-led government assault on Thursday. Most of the hundreds of workers at the plant, who come from about 25 countries, appear to have escaped sometime during the four days.
What little information trickled out was as harrowing as what had come in the days before, when some hostages who had managed to escape told of workers being forced to wear explosives. They also said that there were several summary executions and that some workers had died in the military’s initial rescue attempt.
The total number of people held hostage remains unclear on sunday. There is also some question about the aggressive tactics used by the Algerian army. Western leaders have criticized the Algerian government for failing to consult with them before commencing military actions.
Initial reports from Algerian state news media said that seven workers had been executed during the army’s raid, but the senior government official and another high-level official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, later said the number killed and the cause were unknown.
What little information trickled out from survivors was harrowing. Some hostages who had managed to escape told of workers being forced to wear explosives. They also said that there were several summary executions and that some workers had died in the military’s initial rescue attempt.
Alan Wright, a British survivor, said in an interview with Sky News that he spent about two days hiding in an office complex with about 30 workers listening to the sounds of gunfire outside. The majority he said, were Algerian nationals who he said could have left him and his colleagues. Instead, he said, they helped them to escape by dressing them as locals and cutting through several perimeter fences. They were rescued by Algerian soldiers.
Alan Wright, a British survivor, said in an interview with Sky News that he spent about two days hiding in an office complex with about 30 workers listening to the sounds of gunfire outside. The majority he said, were Algerian nationals who he said could have left him and his colleagues. Instead, he said, they helped them to escape by dressing them as locals and cutting through several perimeter fences. They were rescued by Algerian soldiers.
“I can’t say enough about the guys in our building, who had the option to surrender and be safe,” he said. “You’ll be in debt to them for the rest of your life.”
“I can’t say enough about the guys in our building, who had the option to surrender and be safe,” he said. “You’ll be in debt to them for the rest of your life.”
He also praised the Algerian military: “If it weren’t for them, I think it would have been a lot worse.” On Saturday, Algerian officials reported that some bodies found by troops who rushed into the industrial complex were charred beyond recognition, making it hard to distinguish between the captors and the captured. Two were assumed to be workers because they were handcuffed.
He also praised the Algerian military: “If it weren’t for them, I think it would have been a lot worse.”
Most of the hundreds of workers at the plant, who come from about 25 countries, appear to have escaped sometime during the four days.
In public remarks on Sunday, Western leaders called for a decisive and far-reaching response to the attack, indicating a willingness to expand military operations in North Africa to counter deeply rooted Islamist militant groups.
The Algerian government has been relatively silent since the start of the crisis, releasing few details. The government faced withering international criticism for rushing ahead with its first assault on the militants on Thursday even as governments whose citizens were trapped inside the plant pleaded for more time, fearing that rescue attempts might lead to workers dying. The Algerians responded by saying they had a better understanding of how to handle militants after fighting Islamist insurgents for years.
“We have had successes in recent years in reducing the threat from some parts of the world, but the threat has grown, particularly in North Africa,” David Cameron, Briton’s prime minster said in a televised address.
Mr. Cameron said on Sunday: “Now of course people will ask questions about the Algerian response to these events, but I would just say that the responsibility for these deaths lies squarely with the terrorists who launched a vicious and cowardly attack.”
“This is a global threat and it will require a global response,” he said. “It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months. It requires a response that is patient and painstaking, that is tough but also intelligent, but above all has an absolutely iron resolve and that is what we will deliver over these coming years.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius offered a similar assessment on Europe 1 radio on Sunday, saying he was “shocked” that Algeria was criticized for a response to terrorists who “pillage, rape and ransack.”
He added: “What we face is an extremist, Islamist, Al Qaeda-linked terrorist group. Just as we had to deal with that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan, so the world needs to come together to deal with this threat in North Africa.”
“There can be no impunity for terrorists,” he said, adding that the response to such attacks “must be relentless.”
France’s defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, captured these sentiments succinctly, telling France 5 television that the attack on the oil facility was “an act of war.”
On Saturday, it was unclear who killed the last hostages. Initial reports from Algerian state news media said that seven workers had been executed during the army’s raid, but the senior government official and another high-level official, both of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, later said the number killed and the cause were unknown. The early reports also said 11 militants were killed, but later information suggested that some may have blown themselves up.
d. o.
One Algerian official defended the latest military assault, saying the government feared the militants were about to set off explosions at the In Amenas complex.
Adam
Nossiter reported from Mali and Michael Schwirtz from New York. Reporting was contributed by Steven Erlanger and Scott Sayare from Paris; Alan Cowell, Elisabeth Bumiller, John F. Burns and Stanley Reed from London; Manny Fernandez and Clifford Krauss from Houston;and Eric Schmitt and Michael R. Gordon from Washington.
The official said that the militants had set fire to the plant’s control tower on Friday night and that it was later extinguished by soldiers and workers. The militants also tried to blow up a pipeline, he said, leading officials to worry about the stocks of gas at the plant. The Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, said that the attackers had evidently mined the facility with the intention of blowing it up and that the company was working to ensure the safety of the plant. The Algerian military was still trying on Sunday to clear the mines, the communications minister, Mohamed Said, told the official APS news agency.
Whatever the goal, the message of the militant takeover of the gas complex, in a country that has perhaps the world’s toughest record for dealing with terrorists, seemed clear, at least to Algerian officials: the Islamist ministate in northern Mali, now under assault by French and Malian forces, has given a new boost to transnational terrorism. The brigade of some 32 Islamists that took the plant was multinational, Algerian officials said — with only three Algerians in the group.
“We have indications that they originated from northern Mali,” one of the senior officials said. “They want to establish a terrorist state.” On Sunday, Mr. Said was quoted as saying the attackers were from six Arab, African and non-African countries, but he did not identify those states by name.
A Mali-based Algerian jihadist with ties to Al Qaeda, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, has claimed responsibility through spokesmen — and is blamed by the Algerians — for masterminding the raid.
The militants who attacked the plant said it was in retaliation for the French troops sweeping into Mali this month to stop an advance of Islamist rebels south toward the capital, although they later said they had been planning an attack in Algeria for some time. The group that attacked the plant, thought to be based in Gao, Mali, was previously little known and had splintered last year from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Al Qaeda’s North African branch.
The gas plant is operated by Sonatrach, Norway’s Statoil and BP of Britain.
The militant takeover of the site began with heavy gunfire early Wednesday, and continued through the fierce, helicopter-led government assault on Thursday.
United States officials had said that “seven or eight” Americans had been at the In Amenas field when it was seized by the militants.
One American, Frederick Buttaccio, 58, of Katy, Tex., was confirmed dead on Friday.
On Saturday, BP announced that another American, a Texan named Mark Cobb, who was a manager of the plant, survived. A man from Austin also survived, according to a spokesman for Representative Michael McCaul, Republican of Texas. It was unclear if either of the Texans who survived were the two declared “safe and sound” early on Saturday.
Robert Dudley, BP’s chief executive, said 18 BP employees had been at the facility and 14 had been evacuated safely, while the fate of four others remained unknown.
Among the workers killed at the plant were a French citizen identified as Yann Desjeux, who died before Saturday’s raid. An Algerian state news agency said some Algerians had also been killed as of Friday.
One Algerian who managed to escape told France 24 television late Friday night that the kidnappers said, “We’ve come in the name of Islam, to teach the Americans what Islam is.” The haggard-looking man, interviewed at the airport in Algiers, said the kidnappers then immediately executed five hostages.
The brazenness of the assault — with scores of fighters attacking one of the country’s most important gas-producing facilities — is likely to call into question Algeria’s much vaunted security strategy in dealing with the Islamic militants who find shelter in its southern deserts, near the border with Mali.
The Algerians have made a virtue out of keeping a lid on these militants, pushing them toward Mali in a strategy of modified containment, and ruthlessly stamping them out when they attempt an attack in the Algerian interior. So far it has worked, and Algeria’s extensive oil and gas fields, which are essential sources of revenue, have been protected.
That relative success had allowed Algeria to take a hands-off approach to the Islamist conquest of northern Mali in recent months, even as Western governments pleaded with it to become more directly involved in confronting the militants, who move across the hazy border between the two countries.
But now Algeria may have to rethink its approach, analysts suggest.
Adam Nossiter reported from Bamako and Alan Cowell from London. Reporting was contributed by Steven Erlanger and Scott Sayare from Paris; Elisabeth Bumiller and John F. Burns from London; Manny Fernandez and Clifford Krauss from Houston; and Michael R. Gordon from Washington.
