• published: 17 Jan 2013
• views: 1533

At least six Western hostages were killed when Algerian forces stormed a BP gas field in the Sahara today. Eight or more Islamist militants were reported to have died when Algerian helicopters -- and, according to one account, warplanes -- launched attacks close to the sprawling complex seized by an Islamist group linked to al-Qa'ida on Wednesday. In this initial phase of the siege, one British national was killed, and the UK Government confirmed that several more Britons were among those still being held at the complex close to the Libyan border. Details of the operation -- conducted without the approval of Western governments -- were sketchy, but David Cameron admitted that Britain "should be prepared for the possibility of further... very difficult news". He has postponed a speech he was due to give in Amsterdam today on Britain's future in Europe, saying he "simply cannot be away" while the crisis is ongoing. As many as 25 foreign captives and 600 Algerians were reported to have been freed -- or to have escaped -- from their captors as the assault began this morning. Stephen McFaul, 36, from Belfast, was one of the lucky ones who got out. Tonight he telephoned his family to say he was safe. One diplomatic source in Algiers said last night: "It seems things haven't gone so well for the hostages. Several British gas workers were among the reported total of 43 foreign captives. Others included Americans, Japanese, Norwegians and Frenchmen." According to one report, seven hostages were held for many hours by a group of militants which resisted the Algerian army in part of the plant near the town of In Amenas. Militants told a news agency in Mauritania that they had attempted to escape in two buses with some of their captives when they were strafed by Algerian army helicopters. The Mauritanian agency claimed that 35 hostages and 15 kidnappers had died in the attack. But a local source told Reuters news agency that six captives and eight militants had been killed. Radio France Internationale reported from Algiers last night that the raiders had made four attempts to flee. A convoy of buses and trucks was finally attacked by the Algerian military. The Algerians had agreed that the raiders could leave the country without their hostages but the kidnappers attempted to take some foreigners with them. The bloody development in the siege has strained relations between Britain and Algeria, with Mr Cameron admitting he only learnt the intervention was underway when he rang his opposite number Abdelmalek Sellal at 11.30am after he was informed Algerian forces had stormed the oil facility. Mr Sellal said events were changing so quickly on the ground that his forces had been forced to act immediately. The Algerian assault came as French operations in neighbouring Mali entered a seventh day, with warplanes and helicopters continuing to pound targets in the centre and north of the country. Despite pledges of support from a number of European nations and the US, none are sending troops. BP, which operates the gas well for the Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, said last night: "We have been informed that the Algerian army is attempting to take control of the In Amenas site... Sadly, there have been some reports of casualties." A French captive contacted by the newspaper Sud Ouest said the raiders had strapped explosives to some hostages. It appeared, however, that the 20 or 30-strong gang of kidnappers had difficulty in controlling so many captives, which numbered several hundred. There were reports of small groups of Algerian and foreign workers escaping. The capture of the Algerian gas site was claimed by the Islamist splinter group, Mouwaghina Bi Dam ("Those who sign in Blood") as a retaliation for French intervention in Mali. But Western governments suggested today that the operation must have been planned for many weeks. Whatever the truth, the Algerian attack and the involvement of foreign workers from so many nations will inevitably raise the international profile of the multi-layered Islamist revolt sprawling across 2,000 miles of desert and semi-desert in the Sahara and the Sahel. President François Hollande said today that the mass hostage-taking in Algeria had proved France's argument that its armed intervention in Mali last Friday was about more than the fate of the Malian government. A similar point was made by one of the leaders of the three Islamist groups which control northern Mali, an area the size of Spain. "No foreigner is safe ... our movement is now global," said Oumar Ould Hamaha of the Movement for Unity aand Jihad in West Africa, talking by telephone to the Associated Press. The raid on the BP gas well complex is believed to have been inspired -- and possibly led in person -- by a veteran al-Qa'ida leader in northern Africa, Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The Algerian, 51, was a long-time member of Aqim before forming his own splinter group last month.