Dozen hostages killed in siege, Algerians say

Foreign Affairs probes report of Canadian kidnapper

PARIS — The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a natural gas plant in the Sahara took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria’s state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers captured by al-Qaida-linked militants had been freed but a dozen killed — and reports surfaced that a Canadian may have been among the kidnappers.

The latest number of hostages at the remote desert facility was significantly higher than any previous report, but it still left questions about the fate of more than 30 other foreign energy workers. It wasn’t clear how the government had arrived at its latest tally of hostages, which was far higher than the 41 foreigners the militants had claimed previously.

The desert siege erupted Wednesday when the militants attempted to hijack two buses at the plant, were repulsed, but then seized the sprawling refinery. They had claimed the attack came in retaliation for France’s recent military intervention against Islamist rebels in neighbouring Mali, but security experts have said it must have taken weeks of planning to hit the remote site.

The militants seized hundreds of workers from 10 nations at Algeria’s remote Ain Amenas natural gas plant. The overwhelming majority were Algerian and were freed almost immediately. Algerian forces retaliated Thursday by storming the plant in an attempted rescue operation that left leaders around the world expressing strong concerns about the hostages’ safety.

“This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages,” British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday in London.

He told British lawmakers the situation remained fluid and dangerous, saying “part of the threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, a threat still remains in another part.”

In Ottawa, the Department of Foreign Affairs said it was “pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information” about possible involvement of a Canadian — attributed to Agence Nouakchott d’Information, a news agency in Mauritania — and that it was in close contact with Algerian authorities. Spokeswoman Chrystiane Roy said Canada strongly condemned the “deplorable and cowardly attack.”

BP jointly operates the Ain Amenas plant, which is 1,300 kilometres south of Algiers.

Algeria’s state news agency reported late Friday that a “provisional toll” showed 12 hostages had been killed since the start of the Algerian military operation to free workers kidnapped by militants at the plant. The APS news agency quoted an un- identified security source for the new death toll and said the fatalities include Algerian and foreign workers.

That hostage death toll would be more than double the one APS had reported earlier. The news agency has said 18 militants had been killed.

Yet the report that nearly 100 workers were safe could indicate a breakthrough in the confrontation.

On Friday, trapped in the main refinery area, the militants offered to trade two American hostages for two prominent terrorists jailed in the United States: blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks and considered the spiritual leader of the 1993 World Trade Center bomb- ing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan.

But U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said there would be “no place to hide” for anyone who looks to attack the United States. “Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere,” Panetta said Friday.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that some Americans were still hostages but spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, “The United States does not negotiate with terrorists.”

It was not clear whether the remaining foreigners were still captive or had died during the Algerian military offensive to free them.