Algeria hostage crisis ends in bloodbath
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Hostages are seen with their hands in the air at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image taken from video footage taken on Jan 16 or Jan 17, 2013. The Algerian army carried out a dramatic final assault to end a siege by Islamic militants at a desert gas plant on Saturday, killing 11 Al Qaeda-linked gunmen after they took the lives of seven more foreign hostages, the state news agency said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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This image released on Jan 19, 2013 by the SITE Intelligence Group and credited to the ANI Mauritanian news agency shows Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri reportedly lead the hostage-taking operation at the BP oil facility in In Aménas, Algeria. -- PHOTO: AFP
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Algerian Gendarmes escort a freed Norwegian hostage Oddvar Birkedal (centre) at a police station in Amenas on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Algerian Gendarme escort a freed Norwegian hostage Oddvar Birkedal (right) at the police station in In Amenas Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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The gas plant and the town of In Amenas in Algeria is seen in this image taken by the SPOT 6 satellite, build and operated by Astrium, on Jan 8, 2013 released to Reuters by Astrium on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Hostages are seen with their hands in the air at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image received Jan 19, 2013 and taken from video footage on Jan. 16 or Jan 17, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Hostages are seen sitting against the wall of a building at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image received Jan 19, 2013 and taken from video footage on Jan 16 or Jan 17, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Two freed British hostages identified as Peter (centre) and Alan (left) stand with an unidentified Norwegian hostage outside a police station in In Amenas in the desert in Algeria's deep south on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: AFP
Hostages are seen with their hands in the air at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image taken from video footage taken on Jan 16 or Jan 17, 2013. The Algerian army carried out a dramatic final assault to end a siege by Islamic militants at a desert gas plant on Saturday, killing 11 Al Qaeda-linked gunmen after they took the lives of seven more foreign hostages, the state news agency said. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
This image released on Jan 19, 2013 by the SITE Intelligence Group and credited to the ANI Mauritanian news agency shows Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri reportedly lead the hostage-taking operation at the BP oil facility in In Aménas, Algeria. -- PHOTO: AFP
Algerian Gendarmes escort a freed Norwegian hostage Oddvar Birkedal (centre) at a police station in Amenas on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Algerian Gendarme escort a freed Norwegian hostage Oddvar Birkedal (right) at the police station in In Amenas Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
The gas plant and the town of In Amenas in Algeria is seen in this image taken by the SPOT 6 satellite, build and operated by Astrium, on Jan 8, 2013 released to Reuters by Astrium on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Hostages are seen with their hands in the air at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image received Jan 19, 2013 and taken from video footage on Jan. 16 or Jan 17, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Hostages are seen sitting against the wall of a building at the In Amenas gas facility in this still image received Jan 19, 2013 and taken from video footage on Jan 16 or Jan 17, 2013. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Two freed British hostages identified as Peter (centre) and Alan (left) stand with an unidentified Norwegian hostage outside a police station in In Amenas in the desert in Algeria's deep south on Jan 19, 2013. -- PHOTO: AFP
IN AMENAS, Algeria (AFP) - Algerian troops stormed a remote gas plant Saturday to end a hostage crisis that killed 23 foreigners and Algerians, seven of them executed by their Islamist captors in a final military assault.
Twenty-one hostages died during the siege that began when the Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen attacked the In Amenas facility deep in the Sahara desert at dawn on Wednesday, the interior ministry said.
Thirty-two kidnappers were also killed, and special forces were able to free "685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners", it said.
Among the dead were an unknown number of foreigners - including from Britain, France, Romania and the United States - and many were still unaccounted for, including Japanese.
