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发帖数: 29846 | 1 阿尔及利亚政府消息，23个人质死亡，参与劫持人质的全部32个恐怖分子被杀
Algeria: 32 militants killed, with 23 hostages
By PAUL SCHEMM and KARIM KEBIR
Associated Press
ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed
a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff
with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all
32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.
With few details emerging from the remote site in eastern Algeria, it was
unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of
hostages killed on Saturday - seven - was how many the militants had said
that morning they still had. The government described the toll as
provisional and some foreigners remained unaccounted for.
The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists linked
to al-Qaida stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers
from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian
military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated
with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.
Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting
terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an
international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian
military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being
held with minimal apparent mediation - first on Thursday, then on Saturday.
"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the
situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with
efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were
first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities,"
Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.
Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his
backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted
response to the crisis."
"There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted
him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.
Hollande said the hostages were "shamefully murdered" by their captors, and
he linked the event to France's military operation against al-Qaida-backed
rebels in neighboring Mali. "If there was any need to justify our action
against terrorism, we would have here, again, an additional argument," he
said.
President Barack Obama said in a statement Saturday that the U.S. stood
ready to provide whatever assistance was needed in the wake of the attack.
"This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al-Qaida and other
violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain
in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller
understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent
tragedies like this in the future," the statement said.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council issued a statement condemning the
militants' terrorist attack and said all perpetrators, organizers,
financiers and sponsors of such "reprehensible acts" must be brought to
justice.
In the final assault, the remaining band of militants killed the hostages
before 11 of them were in turn cut down by the special forces, Algeria's
state news agency said. The military launched its Saturday assault to
prevent a fire started by the extremists from engulfing the complex and
blowing it up, the report added.
A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course
of the four-day standoff, the ministry statement said, adding that the
group of militants that attacked the remote Saharan natural gas complex
consisted of 32 men of various nationalities, including three Algerians and
explosives experts.
The military also said it confiscated heavy machine guns, rocket launchers,
missiles and grenades attached to suicide belts.
Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company running the Ain Amenas site along
with BP and Norway's Statoil, said the entire refinery had been mined with
explosives, and that the process of clearing it out is now under way.
Algeria has fought its own Islamist rebellion since the 1990s, elements of
which later declared allegiance to al-Qaida and then set up new groups in
the poorly patrolled wastes of the Sahara along the borders of Niger, Mali,
Algeria and Libya, where they flourished.
The standoff has put the spotlight on these al-Qaida-linked groups that roam
these remote areas, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests.
The militants initially said their operation was intended to stop a French
attack on Islamist militants in neighboring Mali - though they later said it
was two months in the planning, long before the French intervention.
The militants, who came from a Mali-based al-Qaida splinter group run by an
Algerian, attacked the plant Wednesday morning. Armed with heavy machine
guns and rocket launchers in four-wheel drive vehicles, they fell on a pair
of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses' military escort
drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over
the heads of crouching workers. A Briton and an Algerian - probably a
security guard - were killed.
The militants then turned to the vast gas complex, divided between the
workers' living quarters and the refinery itself, and seized hostages, the
Algerian government said. The gas flowing to the site was cut off.
Saturday's government statement said the militants came across the border
from "neighboring countries," while the militants said they came from Niger,
hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the south.
On Thursday, Algerian helicopters kicked off the military's first assault on
the complex by opening fire on a convoy carrying both kidnappers and their
hostages to stop them from escaping, resulting in many deaths, according to
witnesses.
The accounts of hostages who escaped the standoff showed they faced dangers
from both the kidnappers and the military.
Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project
management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp., described how he and
his colleagues were used as human shields by the kidnappers, which did
little to deter the Algerian military.
On Thursday, about 35 hostages guarded by 15 militants were loaded into
seven SUVs in a convoy to move them from the housing complex to the refinery
, Andrada said. The militants placed "an explosive cord" around their necks
and were told it would detonate if they tried to run away, he said.
"When we left the compound, there was shooting all around," Andrada said, as
Algerian helicopters attacked with guns and missiles. "I closed my eyes. We
were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate."
Andrada's vehicle overturned allowing him and a few others to escape. He
sustained cuts and bruises and was grazed by a bullet on his right elbow. He
later saw the blasted remains of other vehicles, and the severed leg of one
of the gunmen.
The site of the gas plant spreads out over several hectares (acres) and
includes a housing complex and the processing site, about a mile (1.6
kilometers) apart, making it especially complicated for the Algerians to
secure the site and likely contributed to the lengthy standoff.
"It's a big and complex site. It's a huge place with a lot of people there
and a lot of hiding places for hostages and terrorists," said Col. Richard
Kemp, a retired commander of British forces who had dealt with hostage
rescues in Iraq and Afghanistan. "These are experienced terrorists holding
the hostages."
While the Algerian government has only admitted to 23 hostages dead so far,
the militants claimed through the Mauritanian news website ANI that the
helicopter attack alone killed 35 hostages.
One American, a Texan - Frederick Buttaccio from the Houston suburb of Katy
- was among the dead. "Fred spent a lifetime experiencing the world and
always respecting everyone he met, no matter their position, culture, or
religion," the family said in a statement Saturday.
President Barack Obama said in a statement Saturday that the U.S. stood
ready to provide whatever assistance was needed in the wake of the attack.
"This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al-Qaida and other
violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain
in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller
understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent
tragedies like this in the future," the statement said.
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that a Frenchman
killed, Yann Desjeux, was a former member of the French special forces and
part of the security team. The remaining three French nationals who were at
the plant are now free, the Foreign Ministry said.
The British government said Saturday it is trying to determine the fate of
six people from Britain who are either dead or unaccounted for.
Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said, "There is no justification for
taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever
to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this
terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."
The Norwegian government said there were five Norwegians unaccounted for.
Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Saturday one Romanian hostage was
killed in the course of the siege, while the Malaysian government said two
of its citizens were still missing.
The attack by the Masked Brigade, founded by Algerian militant Moktar
Belmoktar, had been in the works for two months, a member of the brigade
told the ANI news outlet. He said militants targeted Algeria because they
expected the country to support the international effort to root out
extremists in neighboring Mali and it was carried out by a special commando
unit, "Those Who Signed in Blood," tasked with attacking nations supporting
intervention in Mali.
The kidnappers focused on the foreign workers, largely leaving alone the
hundreds of Algerian workers who were briefly held hostage before being
released or escaping.
Several of them arrived haggard-looking on a late-night flight into Algiers
on Friday and described how the militants stormed the living quarters and
immediately separated out the foreigners.
Mohamed, a 37-year-old nurse who like the others wouldn't allow his last
name to be used for fear of trouble for himself or his family, said at least
five people were shot to death, their bodies still in front of the
infirmary when he left Thursday night.
Chabane, an Algerian who worked in food services, said he bolted out the
window and was hiding when he heard the militants speaking among themselves
with Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian accents. At one point, he said, they
caught a Briton.
"They threatened him until he called out in English to his friends, telling
them, `Come out, come out. They're not going to kill you. They're looking
for the Americans,'" Chabane said.
"A few minutes later, they blew him away."
-----
Paul Schemm reported from Rabat, Morocco. Associated Press writers Aomar
Ouali in Algiers; Oliver Teves in Manila, Philippines; Elaine Ganley in
Paris; Sylvia Hui in London; Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen; and Peter Spielmann
at the U.N. contributed to this report. | h**********e
发帖数: 2973 | 2 阿尔及利亚政府还是做得不错的。
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【在 l****z 的大作中提到】
: 阿尔及利亚政府消息，23个人质死亡，参与劫持人质的全部32个恐怖分子被杀
: Algeria: 32 militants killed, with 23 hostages
: By PAUL SCHEMM and KARIM KEBIR
: Associated Press
: ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- In a bloody finale, Algerian special forces stormed
: a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff
: with Islamist extremists that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all
: 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.
: With few details emerging from the remote site in eastern Algeria, it was
: unclear whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of
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