THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Al Qaeda-linked hostage takers claiming to hold 41 foreigners hostage at a gas field partly operated by British Petroleum in Algeria have reportedly threatened to blow themselves up after killing a Briton.
Algeria's official APS news agency cited provincial officials for news of the death, which came after an early morning attack by Islamists.
The militants say they are holding an [sic] seven Americans and an unspecified number of British, Japanese and French amongst other nationalities, a spokesman is cited as saying by two Mauritanian news agencies - Agence Nouakchott information et Sahara Medias. A security source quoted by Algeria's El Watan newspaper quoted the same figure.
"A second person, a British national, died in the terrorist attack carried out early on Wednesday morning in Tigantourine," the APS news agency said, citing local officials. Six other people have been wounded.
Prime Minister David Cameron will chair a meeting of the Government's crisis committee Cobra on the incident later on Wednesday.
The natural gas complex, the third largest in the country, is a joint venture of British Petroleum, Norway's Statoil and the Algerian Sonatrach company located some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) south of the capital near the Libyan border.
The Algerian Interior Ministry said heavily armed gunman in three vehicles attacked the complex early on Wednesday morning. » | Barney Henderson, and Henry Samuel in Paris | Wednesday, January 16, 2013
