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| Africa North | |
| Algeria crisis: Hostage-takers 'taken alive' at gas plant | |
| 2013-01-20 | |
| Five suspected members of the Islamist group which held foreign and local workers hostage at an Algerian gas plant have been arrested, reports say. The reports came a day after the Algerian authorities said all 32 hostage-takers had been killed at the In Amenas gas installation. At least 23 staff at the facility died during the four-day siege, with some Western workers still unaccounted for. The siege was ended in a raid by troops on Saturday.
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| Posted by:tipper |
| #14 I expect these folks will get to grow all new fingernails and toenails soon. No permanent physical damage, but real painful when they're either being extracted, or having toothpicks inserted under them. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2013-01-20 21:49 |
| #13 Every human being is a hostage to his/her community. At any time they can tear off your limbs and impale your children on a stake in the garden. Civilization is a word that means how likely is that to happen. |
| Posted by: rammer 2013-01-20 20:54 |
| #12 Update Five kidnappers taken alive in Algeria But "three others are at large", station director Anis Rahmani told AFP. An AFP correspondent at the In Amenas hospital was told 12 of the bodies stored at its morgue were Japanese, after Tokyo said it had no confirmation on the fate of 10 of its nationals who went missing in the 72-hour ordeal. "A terrorist shouted 'open the door!' with a strong north American accent, and opened fire. Two other Japanese died then and we found four other Japanese bodies" in the compound, he added, choking with emotion. |
| Posted by: tipper 2013-01-20 20:43 |
| #11 "Death toll at 81 and climbing" It's not clear who's a hostage and who's a terrorist. Could take some time to sort out. This event has been a nightmare from start to finish for Western Gov'ts. Apparently the Algerians ran "clearance" operations to clear terrorists out of the plant. That is not the same as a rescue operation. You have to wonder why, when the terrorists were abducting hostages inside vehicles, that the Algerian soldiers did not just shoot out the tires. Why rip up the vehicles with fire from helicopters and security men? Probably the truth will never be known ... except for those who participated. There will just bea final body count. |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-01-20 19:08 |
| #10 A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course of the four-day standoff. Which means, if the numbers are accurate, 90% got out alive. I'll wager they (the survivors) are happy with the odds as well as the outcome. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-01-20 17:10 |
| #9 How many thousands of people were involved in this, anyway? |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2013-01-20 17:08 |
| #8 Death toll at 81 and climbing. Some bodies are too mangled to identify at this time. Link |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-01-20 17:00 |
| #7 There are initial results showing trepanning is helpful for some health issues, though I can't remember what. Separately, there must be cell phones and tablets hidden somewhere in the facility... |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2013-01-20 16:09 |
| #6 Trepanning by an Algerian Michael J Fox? |
| Posted by: Frank G 2013-01-20 14:55 |
| #5 Ryobi deep tissue foot massage therapy Okay, that got me laughing. To be followed by the DeWalt painless brain probe insertion... |
| Posted by: Steve White 2013-01-20 14:36 |
| #4 The people arrested may be workers within the BP plant who are suspected of collusion with the terrorists. It should still provide information - but their interrogations will not be a happy process. |
| Posted by: Raider 2013-01-20 14:35 |
| #3 Unfortunately prisoners 1 through 5 have responded negatively to today's conciliatory interrogation techniques. The Ryobi deep tissue foot massage therapy will begin tomorrow morning, at what would have been the breakfast hour. Our interviews and interrogation team are quite optimistic. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-01-20 14:15 |
| #2 Will they die trying to escape (without legs or arms) in a few days? |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2013-01-20 13:17 |
| #1 That's a happy bonus. Looks like the Algerians will get some information, after all. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2013-01-20 13:04 |