In Amenas hostage crisis

In Aménas hostage crisis
Part of Insurgency in the Maghreb Northern Mali conflict
Location of In Aménas within Illizi Province in Algeria
Location	West of In Aménas, Algeria
Coordinates	27.897°N 9.127°E / 27.897; 9.127
Date	16 January 2013 (2013-01-16)–19 January 2013 (2013-01-19) (CET – UTC +1)
Target	International natural gas plant workers
Attack type	Ambush, siege, hostage crisis
Weapons	Automatic weapons Mortars Anti-aircraft missiles Explosives
Deaths	67 (at least 38 hostages and 29 militants)
Injured	Currently unknown
Perpetrators	The al-Mua'qi'oon Biddam Brigade
Motive	Opposition against Operation Serval

In January 2013, al-Qaeda-linked terrorists under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar took hundreds of people hostage at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Aménas, Algeria. The Algerian special forces raided the site, and most of the hostages were liberated. At least 38 hostages were killed, along with 29 militants, while 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed, according to the Algerian government. Three militants were captured.

It was one of many attacks in the Maghreb carried out by Islamist groups since 2002.

Attack

The Tigantourine gas facility is about 40 kilometres (25 mi) south-west of In Aménas, which is close to the Libyan border and about 1,300 kilometres (810 mi) south-east of Algiers. The Algerian state oil company Sonatrach operates the gas field jointly with the British firm BP and the Norwegian firm Statoil.

Map of the facility and In Aménas

The crisis began in the early morning of 16 January 2013, when around 40 Islamist terrorists in three vehicles, who had entered Algeria from northern Mali, attacked a bus transporting employees to a natural gas plant near the town of In Aménas in far eastern Algeria, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the border with Libya, before moving into the facility itself. The terrorists reportedly rigged the plant with explosives and threatened a "tragic end" should attempts be made to free the captives.

A Briton and an Algerian security guard were killed during the initial phase of the attack, according to reports. At least seven people were injured in the initial assault against the complex.

Mohamed Lamine Lahmar, a guard, succeeded in pushing an alarm which warned the whole site that a terrorist attack was on. He was shot immediately after that. The alarm made it possible for some people to hide, and for others to shut down essential processes of the site and thus possibly prevent its destruction if there was a detonation.

Subsequently, Algerian security forces surrounded the facility. At midday local time on 17 January, the Algerian army launched an attack to retake the facility and free the hostages.

Perpetrators

An al-Qaeda-affiliated group, known variously as both Katibat al-Mulathameen (The Masked Brigade) and the al-Muwaqqi‘ūn bi-d-Dimā’ (Arabic: الموقعون بالدماء "Those who Sign with Blood") Brigade, was reported to be the perpetrator of the attack. According to the Mauritanian news agency ANI and the Algerian Foreign Minister Daho Ould Kablia, the terrorists were under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, known also as Khalid Abu al-Abbas.

Belmokhtar, a veteran of Algeria's civil war and the Soviet war in Afghanistan and dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence, was a senior commander in al-Qaeda's local branch before deciding to form his own armed Islamist group late in 2012 after an apparent fallout with other terrorist leaders. Despite the split, his fighters remain loyal to al-Qaeda, and mentioned the fact in their communication with the media after the initial assault.

The Algerian Prime Minister said 32 terrorists were involved in the attack, and that one-third were Algerian while the rest were made up of eight nationalities, including 11 Tunisians, 2 Canadians, and Egyptian, Malian, Nigerien, and Mauritanian terrorists. An Algerian news website had reported that three Egyptians, two Algerians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, one Mali national, and one French national were among the attackers, but the French Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls disputed the presence of a French national among the attackers.

On 19 January, Algerian state media announced that 11 of the hostage-takers were killed after a military offensive which ended the siege. Seven hostages were executed by the perpetrators during the offensive.

Algeria's prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal said in a press conference on 21 January 2013 that 29 of the attackers had been killed and three captured alive.

Demands

The militants demanded an end to French military operations against Islamists in northern Mali, in return for the safety of the hostages. A spokesman claiming to represent the "Masked Brigade" (or al-Mulathameen Brigade) said the hostage seizure was a response to Algeria's opening of its airspace to French warplanes that attacked Mali's militants five days prior. Another report mentioned a demand for the release of Aafia Siddiqui and Omar Abdel-Rahman, both held in American prisons on terrorism-related convictions. Other reports suggested the hostage-takers demanded the release of about 100 Islamist prisoners held in Algeria.

Hostages

According to U.S. officials, 132 foreign nationals were taken hostage. A statement released by the Islamist group to a Mauritanian news agency said they had 41 foreign nationals. Five were reportedly being held at the gas facility, and the rest at a nearby housing unit. The number included 13 Norwegians (4 of whom escaped to a nearby military camp), 7 U.S. citizens, 5 Japanese, 1 Irish, as well as nationals from France, Romania, and the United Kingdom. France 24 broadcast parts of a phone conversation with a French hostage, who said he was being held along with British, Japanese, Filipino, and Malaysian nationals.

On 17 January 2013, one Algerian security official told the Associated Press that at least 20 foreigners had escaped. Algeria's private Ennahar TV channel cited 15 foreign hostages, including two Japanese, a French couple and the sole Irish national, as having escaped or been freed. Earlier, the Algeria Press Service news agency reported that some 30 Algerian workers managed to free themselves.

According to U.S. officials, 100 of the 132 foreign nationals had either escaped or been set free by mid-day 18 January. The same reports stated that 500 Algerians had been rescued as of 18 January. One American worker was also confirmed dead on 18 January.

Deaths

On 19 January, 11 militants and 7 hostages were killed in a final assault to end the standoff. In addition, 16 foreign hostages were freed, including two Americans, two Germans, and one Portuguese.

Algeria's prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal said in a press conference on 21 January 2013 that one Algerian hostage (a security guard) and 37 foreign hostages from eight different countries had died. The countries that at the time had persons confirmed dead or missing were Japan, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Norway, the United States, Romania, Malaysia, and France.

The nationality breakdown of the dead hostages, as of 23 January, was as follows:

• 9 Japan
• 6 Philippines
• 3 United Kingdom
• 3 United States
• 2 Romania
• 1 Algeria
• 1 Colombia
• 1 France
• 1 Malaysia

Algerian rescue operation

Russian-built Mi-24 gunship of the type used for the rescue attempt.

Minister of Interior Dahou Ould Kablia said the Algerian government would not "respond to the demands of terrorists," and would not negotiate with the hostage takers.

On the afternoon of 17 January 2013, the Algerian Special Intervention Group began an assault on the complex using helicopter gunships and heavy weapons. Algerian commanders explained they launched the assault because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take the hostages abroad. The Mauritanian news agency ANI said the assault came while the militants were attempting to move hostages by vehicle. An Irish engineer who survived is reported as having said he saw four trucks of hostages being blown up by the Algerian forces. Hostages in two other SUVs were freed by the Algerian forces.

An Algerian security source said that 30 hostages and 11 militants were killed during the raid, which was reported as lasting eight hours. According to the ANI, militants claimed that 34 of the hostages and 14 of the Islamists were killed in this initial attack. According to a kidnapper who spoke with the agency, seven hostages were still being held – three Belgians, two Americans, one Japanese, and one British citizen. An Algerian security source earlier confirmed that about 25 foreign hostages had escaped the compound. At least 180 Algerian workers had either escaped the complex or been freed, according to local sources, with a number of others still remaining inside.

Several Western officials bemoaned Algeria's failure to minimize casualties, while Japan criticized Algeria for failing to heed Japan's earlier request to "put human lives first and asked Algeria to strictly refrain".

Analysts say Algeria's lack of consultation fit in with a general pattern of acting independently, its policy of no negotiation with terrorists, and, according to Anouar Boukhars of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that "Algerians are jealous of their sovereignty".

Algeria's prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal in a press conference on 21 January praised the decision by Algerian special forces to storm the site, adding that the aim of the kidnappers was to "blow up the gas plant". He stressed that "The terrorists also shot some of the hostages in the head, killing them".

International impact

• Canada: The Canadian government said "Canada condemns in the strongest possible terms this deplorable and cowardly attack and all terrorist groups which seek to create and perpetuate insecurity in the Sahel countries of West Africa."
• Colombia: The Colombian President said "everything seems to indicate" that a Colombian citizen resident in the UK was killed.
• France: French officials confirmed that one French citizen was killed. France defended Algeria's handling of the crisis.
• Iran: Iran's Press TV conducted an interview titled "West liable for Algeria hostage taking" which interviewed Lawrence Freeman of the Executive Intelligence Review. Press TV supported his conclusion that "the U.S. and their puppets Saudi Arabia and Qatar which have in the first place played a role in the creation of rebels are the root cause of incidents such as that which took place in Algeria."
• Japan: There were 17 Japanese hostages, of which seven survived and at least nine died. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut short his visit to Southeast Asia to return to Tokyo to focus on the situation. Japanese firm JGC Corp., which is involved in gas production in the plant, held meetings with the Japanese government concerning the incident. The Algerian ambassador was summoned to provide clarifications over the hostage-taking crisis.
• Malaysia: The Malaysian foreign ministry said that there was a "worrying possibility" that one of its nationals was dead, and at least one other remained unaccounted for.
• Norway: Norwegian officials said that nine Norwegian citizens were held hostage. By the morning of 18 January, one had been freed. Norway sent a crisis team to their embassy in Algeria. They sent a commercial airliner that had been modified into a flying hospital.
• Philippines: Raul Hernandez, spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs, said that the Philippine government was still verifying reports that there were at least 15 Filipinos in the gas field at the time of the Algerian security force's offensive against the hostage-takers. Hernandez said a Filipino had escaped from the complex before the raid with minor injuries, according to a Japanese information officer. It also confirmed that 6 Filipinos were killed.
• Romania: Robert Cazanciuc, General Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that there was at least one Romanian citizen among the hostages. In a press conference held on 19 January, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that five Romanian citizens had been taken hostage, one of whom was killed while trying to escape. Another died hours later in a hospital.
• Turkey: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that three Turkish nationals survived. The ministry identified the incident as a "terrorist attack," and strongly condemned it.
• United Kingdom: Prime Minister David Cameron confirmed that three British nationals had been killed, and another three were presumed dead. He stated he had not been informed in advance by Algerian authorities that an attempt to free the hostages would take place shortly.
• United States: Three Americans were killed: Gordon Lee Rowan of Sumpter, Oregon, Victor Lynn Lovelady of Nederland, Texas who lived in the Houston area, and Frederick Buttacio of Katy, Texas. The U.S. maintained its policy of zero negotiation with terrorists.