Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain told Parliament that the attack in Algeria demonstrated the need for Western allies to direct more of their resources to North Africa.
Algeria's ENTV news channel interviewed a number of local and foreign workers who had been held captive in a gas facility and were freed on Friday, with some of them expressing relief.
The Times’s Steven Erlanger discusses the lack of information surrounding an Algerian military response to a hostage situation at a remote gas field facility.
TimesCast: A dramatic Saharan raid, with little hard information. | Lance Armstrong’s confession is Oprah Winfrey’s victory. | A charismatic preacher carves out a place in Pakistan’s political scene.
A day after Algerian forces raided a gas facility, Britain said the operation against Islamist hostage takers was not over as foreign leaders tried to learn their citizens’ fates.
Hostages who escaped or were freed from the Algerian gas field described gunshots ringing out during breakfast, followed by foreigners being separated from Algerians.
The United Nations refugee agency said on Friday that it was preparing for around 700,000 people to flee the violence in Mali, many to neighboring countries.
One of the world’s most closely watched elephant populations has been heavily hit by ivory poachers, scientists in Kenya said this week.
The United States on Thursday recognized the government of Somalia for the first time since 1991.
Local oil executives said foreign oil service companies were in the process of quietly removing several hundred workers until they were confident that the security situation was stable.
The man thought to have masterminded the kidnapping at the Algerian natural-gas field has a long history in smuggling, jihad and politics in the region.
A rescue attempt undertaken without prior notice to the countries whose citizens were taken hostage typifies Algeria’s independent approach, experts say.
Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Instagram
Google+
YouTube
LinkedIn
RSS