Algeria Hostages - Five Britons Dead Or Unaccounted For
https://nigeriaafrica1.blogspot.com/2013/01/algeria-hostages-five-britons-dead-or.html
Foreign Secretary William Hague says five Britons and one UK resident have been killed or are unaccounted for in the Algeria kidnap crisis.
This is in addition to the one British fatality which had already been confirmed, he added.
Mr Hague also said the families of those concerned had been contacted.
Earlier, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond blamed militants for the deaths of hostages amid reports that 11 captors had died in an army assault.
Prime Minister David Cameron was told in a phone call from his Algerian counterpart that the hostage crisis at the remote In Amenas desert gas facility had ended, Downing Street said.
Speaking before Mr Hague's announcement, Mr Hammond said the deaths were "appalling and unacceptable".
"We must be clear that it is the terrorists that bear sole responsibility for it."
In a statement, BP said of its employees at the site, 14 were now confirmed safe and secure. Two had sustained injuries, but these were not life-threatening.
The British ambassador, Martyn Roper, along with a small consular and political team, travelled to In Amenas, the town close to the plant, to give consular support.
Militants, who have held the site for four days, had told a Mauritanian news agency they had seven foreign hostages.
The hostage-takers initially attacked two buses carrying foreign workers on Wednesday. A Briton and an Algerian reportedly died in that incident.
The militants then took Algerians and foreign workers hostage at the complex, which is part-operated by BP.
Mr Hague also said the families of those concerned had been contacted.
Earlier, Defence Secretary Philip Hammond blamed militants for the deaths of hostages amid reports that 11 captors had died in an army assault.
Prime Minister David Cameron was told in a phone call from his Algerian counterpart that the hostage crisis at the remote In Amenas desert gas facility had ended, Downing Street said.
Speaking before Mr Hague's announcement, Mr Hammond said the deaths were "appalling and unacceptable".
"We must be clear that it is the terrorists that bear sole responsibility for it."
In a statement, BP said of its employees at the site, 14 were now confirmed safe and secure. Two had sustained injuries, but these were not life-threatening.
The British ambassador, Martyn Roper, along with a small consular and political team, travelled to In Amenas, the town close to the plant, to give consular support.
Militants, who have held the site for four days, had told a Mauritanian news agency they had seven foreign hostages.
The hostage-takers initially attacked two buses carrying foreign workers on Wednesday. A Briton and an Algerian reportedly died in that incident.
The militants then took Algerians and foreign workers hostage at the complex, which is part-operated by BP.
