THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Islamist extremists "executed" seven hostages on Saturday before a final, bloody assault by the Algerian army ended a four-day siege in the desert.
Algeria's special forces stormed the gas complex, jointly run by BP and staffed by many British workers, after reports that the extremists had begun shooting foreigners they had kidnapped.
William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said five Britons and one UK resident, called Carlos Estrada, remained "unaccounted for" and the country had to “prepare for bad news”. One Briton had already been confirmed dead on Wednesday.
BP said last night that four of its employees were still missing several hours after a dramatic firefight inside the gas plant which left more than 30 terrorists dead. The Algerian foreign ministry said that during the course of four days 23 hostages and 32 militants had been killed. » | Robert Mendick, Patrick Sawer and Harriet Alexander | Saturday, January 19, 2013
