Islamist militants were still holding hostages at a remote Algerian gas field yesterday, as criticism mounted of Algiers’ decision to carry out a deadly rescue bid without warning governments whose nationals were being held.
“Some hostages are still being held at the Tiguentourine gas treatment plant, which is currently surrounded by the special forces,” Algeria’s APS news agency said.
An Algerian security source said 18 hostage-takers had been killed in Thursday’s air-ground assault on a nearby housing compound, but the remainder of the more than 30 militants remained holed up in the treatment plant.
British Prime Minister David Cameron warned that the remote In Amenas gas field deep in the Sahara was a “large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages in other areas of the site.”
Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Said said the assault freed a “large number” of hostages, but news reports from Algiers said nearly 600 of those rescued were Algerian workers.
The Islamist militants had seized hundreds of hostages at the field deep in the Sahara on Wednesday, purportedly to avenge a French-led offensive in neighboring Mali.
Cameron said “significantly” fewer than 30 British citizens remained at risk at In Amenas field, operated jointly by British oil giant BP, Norway’s Statoil and Sonatrach of Algeria.
US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said on a visit to London that US officials were “working around the clock” to secure the safe return of an unknown number of US citizens among the hostages.
“Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge. Not in Algeria, not in north Africa, not anywhere,” Panetta said.
BP said that a “small number” of its staff at In Amenas were unaccounted for yesterday, adding it had evacuated hundreds of workers from it and other fields amid the “serious” hostage crisis.
Japanese plant builder JGC, which has 78 employees in the country, said it had now accounted for 17 of them — seven Japanese and 10 others — but that the whereabouts of the other 71 remained unknown.
Statoil said that another one of its Norwegian employees had been taken to safety, but that the fate of eight others was still unknown.
France said two of its nationals had returned safely, but it had no word on two others reported to have been taken hostage.
Austria said one national had been released.
One man from Northern Ireland escaped. According to his brother, Stephen McFaul fled when the convoy in which he was traveling came under fire from the army. He had earlier “had explosives tied around his neck.”
The kidnappers said 34 captives had died in the assault, but an Algerian security source described the toll as “fantasy.”
Japan’s foreign ministry summoned the Algerian ambassador to demand an explanation why it had received no prior notice of the commando raid as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut short a visit to Indonesia to deal with the crisis.
Tokyo called the army assault “regrettable.”
A senior US official said Washington “strongly encouraged” the authorities to make the hostages’ safety their top priority.
Cameron said he was “disappointed” not to have been informed by the Algerians in advance.
The chief hostage taker, Abu al-Baraa, who was reportedly killed in the commando raid, had told Al-Jazeera television: “We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations.”
However, Algeria said it would not negotiate with “terrorists.”
The International Energy Agency said the hostage-taking “cast a dark cloud over the outlook for the country’s energy sector” as the jihadist splinter group which claimed the operation promised yesterday to stage more attacks.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique