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Obama Hostage Crisis Ends With Large Death Toll!


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Obama Hostage Crisis Ends With Large Death Toll!

The Dictator In Chief once again did nothing except partied with his friends and family and made no statement about a deadly incident that the morons at CNN and MSNBC seemed to ignore opting to have Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper go Ga-Ga over Katy Perry and others. Wake up people. Here is what is really going on. The party is going to come to an abrupt end and he knows it. What about the people that died including a man from Texas? What do you have to say about that Barry??? Here is more on the story from Fox News and the Associated Press...

untrucks.jpg

Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked terror group that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

A senior U.S. tells Fox News that details of the siege remain unclear. It is not known whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday -- seven -- was how many the militants had said that morning they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remain unaccounted for.

"Today, the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the families of all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Algeria," President Obama said in a statement. "The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms. We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack. We also will continue to work closely with all of our partners to combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives. This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said much remains "sketchy" about what happened at the remote Ain Amenas gas field.

"We know that lives have been lost," he said.

Asked how many Americans were in danger and what happened to them, Panetta said he knew Americans were still being held hostage earlier Saturday. On what happened to them, he said, "we need to get better information."

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation -- first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted response to the crisis."

"There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.

Hollande said the hostages were "shamefully murdered" by their captors, and he linked the event to France's military operation against Al Qaeda-backed rebels in neighboring Mali. "If there was any need to justify our action against terrorism, we would have here, again, an additional argument," he said.

In the final assault, the remaining band of militants killed the hostages before 11 of them were in turn cut down by the special forces, Algeria's state news agency said. The military launched its Saturday assault to prevent a fire started by the extremists from engulfing the complex and blowing it up, the report added.

A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course of the four-day standoff, the ministry statement said, adding that the group of militants that attacked the remote Saharan natural gas complex consisted of 32 men of various nationalities, including three Algerians and explosives experts.

The military also said it confiscated heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, missiles and grenades attached to suicide belts.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company running the Ain Amenas site along with BP and Norway's Statoil, said the entire refinery had been mined with explosives, and that the process of clearing it out is now under way.

Algeria has fought its own Islamist rebellion since the 1990s, elements of which later declared allegiance to al-Qaida and then set up new groups in the poorly patrolled wastes of the Sahara along the borders of Niger, Mali, Algeria and Libya, where they flourished.

The standoff has put the spotlight on these Al Qaeda-linked groups that roam these remote areas, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests. The militants initially said their operation was intended to stop a French attack on Islamist militants in neighboring Mali -- though they later said it was two months in the planning, long before the French intervention.

The militants, who came from a Mali-based Al Qaeda splinter group run by an Algerian, attacked the plant Wednesday morning. Armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers in four-wheel drive vehicles, they fell on a pair of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses' military escort drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over the heads of crouching workers. A Briton and an Algerian -- probably a security guard -- were killed.

The militants then turned to the vast gas complex, divided between the workers' living quarters and the refinery itself, and seized hostages, the Algerian government said. The gas flowing to the site was cut off.

Saturday's government statement said the militants came across the border from "neighboring countries," while the militants said they came from Niger, hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the south.

On Thursday, Algerian helicopters kicked off the military's first assault on the complex by opening fire on a convoy carrying both kidnappers and their hostages to stop them from escaping, resulting in many deaths, according to witnesses.

The accounts of hostages who escaped the standoff showed they faced dangers from both the kidnappers and the military.

Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp., described how he and his colleagues were used as human shields by the kidnappers, which did little to deter the Algerian military.

On Thursday, about 35 hostages guarded by 15 militants were loaded into seven SUVs in a convoy to move them from the housing complex to the refinery, Andrada said. The militants placed "an explosive cord" around their necks and were told it would detonate if they tried to run away, he said.

"When we left the compound, there was shooting all around," Andrada said, as Algerian helicopters attacked with guns and missiles. "I closed my eyes. We were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate."

Andrada's vehicle overturned allowing him and a few others to escape. He sustained cuts and bruises and was grazed by a bullet on his right elbow. He later saw the blasted remains of other vehicles, and the severed leg of one of the gunmen.

The site of the gas plant spreads out over several acres and includes a housing complex and the processing site, about a mile apart, making it especially complicated for the Algerians to secure the site and likely contributed to the lengthy standoff.

"It's a big and complex site. It's a huge place with a lot of people there and a lot of hiding places for hostages and terrorists," said Col. Richard Kemp, a retired commander of British forces who had dealt with hostage rescues in Iraq and Afghanistan. "These are experienced terrorists holding the hostages."

While the Algerian government has only admitted to 23 hostages dead so far, the militants claimed through the Mauritanian news website ANI that the helicopter attack alone killed 35 hostages.

One American, a Texan -- Frederick Buttaccio from the Houston suburb of Katy -- is among the dead.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that a Frenchman killed, Yann Desjeux, was a former member of the French special forces and part of the security team. The remaining three French nationals who were at the plant are now free, the Foreign Ministry said.

The British government said Saturday it is trying to determine the fate of six people from Britain who are either dead or unaccounted for.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said, "There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."

The Norwegian government said there were five Norwegians unaccounted for.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Saturday one Romanian hostage was killed in the course of the siege, while the Malaysian government said two of its citizens were still missing.

The attack by the Masked Brigade, founded by Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar, had been in the works for two months, a member of the brigade told the ANI news outlet. He said militants targeted Algeria because they expected the country to support the international effort to root out extremists in neighboring Mali and it was carried out by a special commando unit, "Those Who Signed in Blood," tasked with attacking nations supporting intervention in Mali.

The kidnappers focused on the foreign workers, largely leaving alone the hundreds of Algerian workers who were briefly held hostage before being released or escaping.

Several of them arrived haggard-looking on a late-night flight into Algiers on Friday and described how the militants stormed the living quarters and immediately separated out the foreigners.

Mohamed, a 37-year-old nurse who like the others wouldn't allow his last name to be used for fear of trouble for himself or his family, said at least five people were shot to death, their bodies still in front of the infirmary when he left Thursday night.

Chabane, an Algerian who worked in food services, said he bolted out the window and was hiding when he heard the militants speaking among themselves with Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian accents. At one point, he said, they caught a Briton.

"They threatened him until he called out in English to his friends, telling them, `Come out, come out. They're not going to kill you. They're looking for the Americans,"' Chabane said. "A few minutes later, they blew him away."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Obama Hostage Crisis Ends With Large Death Toll!

<snip>

What do you have to say about that Barry???

"Today, the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the families of all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Algeria," President Obama said in a statement. "The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms. We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack. We also will continue to work closely with all of our partners to combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives. This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

<snip>

Well, from the article you posted, that statement is what he had to say about that.

Do you actually read the stuff you post - or do you just see something bad that happened somewhere in the world and decide to use it as something to attack the President with??

This sort of extreme grasping at straws really doesn't help your cause (whatever that may be).

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You just see something bad that happened somewhere in the world and decide to use it as something to attack the President with??

This sort of extreme grasping at straws really doesn't help your cause (whatever that may be).

Very true...

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Well, from the article you posted, that statement is what he had to say about that.

Do you actually read the stuff you post - or do you just see something bad that happened somewhere in the world and decide to use it as something to attack the President with??

This sort of extreme grasping at straws really doesn't help your cause (whatever that may be).

I know you think it's Bushes fault, he left your idol the presidency. It would have been Okay if he were qualified.

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I know you think it's Bushes fault (how do you come to that conclusion?), he left your idol the presidency (what on earth do you mean by that?). It would have been Okay if he were qualified. (Again, really not sure what you mean by that)

Let's see if you can actually answer some questions.........

The answers should be able to come fairly quickly as all of the questions will be directly related to the OP and your reply to my post, so it should all be pretty fresh in your mind.

Question 1. How is the hostage situation in Algeria "Obama's Hostage Crisis" as you headed the OP?

Question 2. Why did you state that President Obama had not made a statement regarding the hostage situation, when the article that you posted quoted the president's statement?

Question 3. What made you say that I think it's Bush's fault? What part of my post lead you to believe that? For the record, I don't think it is either President Obama or former President Bush's fault.

Question 4. What do you mean when you say that "he left your idol the presidency"? I didn't know that the position of President of The United States is a bequethable title.

I'm happy to leave it at four questions for the time being.

I really do look forward to your answers.

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Obama Hostage Crisis Ends With Large Death Toll!

The Dictator In Chief once again did nothing except partied with his friends and family and made no statement about a deadly incident that the morons at CNN and MSNBC seemed to ignore opting to have Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper go Ga-Ga over Katy Perry and others. Wake up people. Here is what is really going on. The party is going to come to an abrupt end and he knows it. What about the people that died including a man from Texas? What do you have to say about that Barry??? Here is more on the story from Fox News and the Associated Press...

untrucks.jpg

Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked terror group that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

A senior U.S. tells Fox News that details of the siege remain unclear. It is not known whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday -- seven -- was how many the militants had said that morning they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remain unaccounted for.

"Today, the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the families of all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Algeria," President Obama said in a statement. "The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms. We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack. We also will continue to work closely with all of our partners to combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives. This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said much remains "sketchy" about what happened at the remote Ain Amenas gas field.

"We know that lives have been lost," he said.

Asked how many Americans were in danger and what happened to them, Panetta said he knew Americans were still being held hostage earlier Saturday. On what happened to them, he said, "we need to get better information."

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation -- first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted response to the crisis."

"There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.

Hollande said the hostages were "shamefully murdered" by their captors, and he linked the event to France's military operation against Al Qaeda-backed rebels in neighboring Mali. "If there was any need to justify our action against terrorism, we would have here, again, an additional argument," he said.

In the final assault, the remaining band of militants killed the hostages before 11 of them were in turn cut down by the special forces, Algeria's state news agency said. The military launched its Saturday assault to prevent a fire started by the extremists from engulfing the complex and blowing it up, the report added.

A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course of the four-day standoff, the ministry statement said, adding that the group of militants that attacked the remote Saharan natural gas complex consisted of 32 men of various nationalities, including three Algerians and explosives experts.

The military also said it confiscated heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, missiles and grenades attached to suicide belts.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company running the Ain Amenas site along with BP and Norway's Statoil, said the entire refinery had been mined with explosives, and that the process of clearing it out is now under way.

Algeria has fought its own Islamist rebellion since the 1990s, elements of which later declared allegiance to al-Qaida and then set up new groups in the poorly patrolled wastes of the Sahara along the borders of Niger, Mali, Algeria and Libya, where they flourished.

The standoff has put the spotlight on these Al Qaeda-linked groups that roam these remote areas, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests. The militants initially said their operation was intended to stop a French attack on Islamist militants in neighboring Mali -- though they later said it was two months in the planning, long before the French intervention.

The militants, who came from a Mali-based Al Qaeda splinter group run by an Algerian, attacked the plant Wednesday morning. Armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers in four-wheel drive vehicles, they fell on a pair of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses' military escort drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over the heads of crouching workers. A Briton and an Algerian -- probably a security guard -- were killed.

The militants then turned to the vast gas complex, divided between the workers' living quarters and the refinery itself, and seized hostages, the Algerian government said. The gas flowing to the site was cut off.

Saturday's government statement said the militants came across the border from "neighboring countries," while the militants said they came from Niger, hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the south.

On Thursday, Algerian helicopters kicked off the military's first assault on the complex by opening fire on a convoy carrying both kidnappers and their hostages to stop them from escaping, resulting in many deaths, according to witnesses.

The accounts of hostages who escaped the standoff showed they faced dangers from both the kidnappers and the military.

Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp., described how he and his colleagues were used as human shields by the kidnappers, which did little to deter the Algerian military.

On Thursday, about 35 hostages guarded by 15 militants were loaded into seven SUVs in a convoy to move them from the housing complex to the refinery, Andrada said. The militants placed "an explosive cord" around their necks and were told it would detonate if they tried to run away, he said.

"When we left the compound, there was shooting all around," Andrada said, as Algerian helicopters attacked with guns and missiles. "I closed my eyes. We were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate."

Andrada's vehicle overturned allowing him and a few others to escape. He sustained cuts and bruises and was grazed by a bullet on his right elbow. He later saw the blasted remains of other vehicles, and the severed leg of one of the gunmen.

The site of the gas plant spreads out over several acres and includes a housing complex and the processing site, about a mile apart, making it especially complicated for the Algerians to secure the site and likely contributed to the lengthy standoff.

"It's a big and complex site. It's a huge place with a lot of people there and a lot of hiding places for hostages and terrorists," said Col. Richard Kemp, a retired commander of British forces who had dealt with hostage rescues in Iraq and Afghanistan. "These are experienced terrorists holding the hostages."

While the Algerian government has only admitted to 23 hostages dead so far, the militants claimed through the Mauritanian news website ANI that the helicopter attack alone killed 35 hostages.

One American, a Texan -- Frederick Buttaccio from the Houston suburb of Katy -- is among the dead.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that a Frenchman killed, Yann Desjeux, was a former member of the French special forces and part of the security team. The remaining three French nationals who were at the plant are now free, the Foreign Ministry said.

The British government said Saturday it is trying to determine the fate of six people from Britain who are either dead or unaccounted for.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said, "There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."

The Norwegian government said there were five Norwegians unaccounted for.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Saturday one Romanian hostage was killed in the course of the siege, while the Malaysian government said two of its citizens were still missing.

The attack by the Masked Brigade, founded by Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar, had been in the works for two months, a member of the brigade told the ANI news outlet. He said militants targeted Algeria because they expected the country to support the international effort to root out extremists in neighboring Mali and it was carried out by a special commando unit, "Those Who Signed in Blood," tasked with attacking nations supporting intervention in Mali.

The kidnappers focused on the foreign workers, largely leaving alone the hundreds of Algerian workers who were briefly held hostage before being released or escaping.

Several of them arrived haggard-looking on a late-night flight into Algiers on Friday and described how the militants stormed the living quarters and immediately separated out the foreigners.

Mohamed, a 37-year-old nurse who like the others wouldn't allow his last name to be used for fear of trouble for himself or his family, said at least five people were shot to death, their bodies still in front of the infirmary when he left Thursday night.

Chabane, an Algerian who worked in food services, said he bolted out the window and was hiding when he heard the militants speaking among themselves with Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian accents. At one point, he said, they caught a Briton.

"They threatened him until he called out in English to his friends, telling them, `Come out, come out. They're not going to kill you. They're looking for the Americans,"' Chabane said. "A few minutes later, they blew him away."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Yet again, Obama stands by and does NOTHING!!!

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The president of the US has nothing to do with this. He didnt start it and cannot finish it, it is out of US jurisdiction. Ridiculous title heading.

Yet again, Obama stands by and does NOTHING!!!

What do you think he should have done? You cannot blame Obama for everything happening in this world...

Edited by JoeB
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Ridiculous title, Even in the story it quotes the president's response, this has nothing to do with Pres. Obama as it was in Algeria. I am not pleased with his policies either, but at least I am not making up or stretching everything out there to seem like his fault. Posts like the one above just makes the far right look very foolish and extreme.

Txcountryman - ALL of the terrorists were killed...should we go after their families and kill them as well? What about any pets they may have owned? Tell me in your wisdom since it is obvious that the USA has done nothing what YOU would suggest being done here in this situation?

I also await the NEGS I will obviously get for disagreeing and making a questioning post that differs slightly with the views of the far extreme right wink.gif

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I also await the NEGS I will obviously get for disagreeing and making a questioning post that differs slightly with the views of the far extreme right wink.gif

Hopefully my plus will counterbalance crazy.

Txcountryman - ALL of the terrorists were killed...should we go after their families and kill them as well? What about any pets they may have owned? Tell me in your wisdom since it is obvious that the USA has done nothing what YOU would suggest being done here in this situation?

I'm guessing he would be satisfied if we waged a war against Islam. (As though we haven't already.)

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JonJon, buddy, we all know that even after 4 years of complete failure, it is STILL Bush's fault!! <_< Actually I'm kind of surprised a SEAL team wasn't used here like they did to get that woman out not to long ago. Pretty bad when the rescue team kills more hostages then the terrorists do, using a gunship to hammer the area? What did they think was going to happen? About as tactical as using a chainsaw for open heart surgery! **Double Face Palm** I guess we are just spoiled having the most potent and honorable military this world has ever known. :salute:

And no Tiff we don't want to wage war on Islam, we want them to stop waging it on us, if you keep kicking a sleeping dog eventually you are going to get bit and we are one big @$$ dog!!

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While I tend to agree with the Obama loyalists on this one. My take and I could be wrong, is that the general perception is that Barry is asleep at the wheel on most foreign policy issues unless there's a chance for photo op that portrays him ln a possitive light. You got to remember back when Bush was pres there was plenty of never ending bashing from the left on a daily basis,so i guess it comes with the territory. - peace

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Obama Hostage Crisis Ends With Large Death Toll!

The Dictator In Chief once again did nothing except partied with his friends and family and made no statement about a deadly incident that the morons at CNN and MSNBC seemed to ignore opting to have Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper go Ga-Ga over Katy Perry and others. Wake up people. Here is what is really going on. The party is going to come to an abrupt end and he knows it. What about the people that died including a man from Texas? What do you have to say about that Barry??? Here is more on the story from Fox News and the Associated Press...

untrucks.jpg

Algerian special forces stormed a natural gas complex in the Sahara desert on Saturday to end a standoff with an Al Qaeda-linked terror group that left at least 23 hostages dead and killed all 32 militants involved, the Algerian government said.

A senior U.S. tells Fox News that details of the siege remain unclear. It is not known whether anyone was rescued in the final operation, but the number of hostages killed on Saturday -- seven -- was how many the militants had said that morning they still had. The government described the toll as provisional and some foreigners remain unaccounted for.

"Today, the thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the families of all those who were killed and injured in the terrorist attack in Algeria," President Obama said in a statement. "The blame for this tragedy rests with the terrorists who carried it out, and the United States condemns their actions in the strongest possible terms. We have been in constant contact with Algerian officials and stand ready to provide whatever assistance they need in the aftermath of this attack. We also will continue to work closely with all of our partners to combat the scourge of terrorism in the region, which has claimed too many innocent lives. This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups in North Africa. In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the Government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said much remains "sketchy" about what happened at the remote Ain Amenas gas field.

"We know that lives have been lost," he said.

Asked how many Americans were in danger and what happened to them, Panetta said he knew Americans were still being held hostage earlier Saturday. On what happened to them, he said, "we need to get better information."

The siege at Ain Amenas transfixed the world after radical Islamists stormed the complex, which contained hundreds of plant workers from all over the world, then held them hostage surrounded by the Algerian military and its attack helicopters for four tense days that were punctuated with gun battles and dramatic tales of escape.

Algeria's response to the crisis was typical of its history in confronting terrorists, favoring military action over negotiation, which caused an international outcry from countries worried about their citizens. Algerian military forces twice assaulted the two areas where the hostages were being held with minimal apparent mediation -- first on Thursday, then on Saturday.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralize the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," Algeria's Interior Ministry said in a statement about the standoff.

Immediately after the assault, French President Francois Hollande gave his backing to Algeria's tough tactics, saying they were "the most adapted response to the crisis."

"There could be no negotiations" with terrorists, the French media quoted him as saying in the central French city of Tulle.

Hollande said the hostages were "shamefully murdered" by their captors, and he linked the event to France's military operation against Al Qaeda-backed rebels in neighboring Mali. "If there was any need to justify our action against terrorism, we would have here, again, an additional argument," he said.

In the final assault, the remaining band of militants killed the hostages before 11 of them were in turn cut down by the special forces, Algeria's state news agency said. The military launched its Saturday assault to prevent a fire started by the extremists from engulfing the complex and blowing it up, the report added.

A total of 685 Algerian and 107 foreigner workers were freed over the course of the four-day standoff, the ministry statement said, adding that the group of militants that attacked the remote Saharan natural gas complex consisted of 32 men of various nationalities, including three Algerians and explosives experts.

The military also said it confiscated heavy machine guns, rocket launchers, missiles and grenades attached to suicide belts.

Sonatrach, the Algerian state oil company running the Ain Amenas site along with BP and Norway's Statoil, said the entire refinery had been mined with explosives, and that the process of clearing it out is now under way.

Algeria has fought its own Islamist rebellion since the 1990s, elements of which later declared allegiance to al-Qaida and then set up new groups in the poorly patrolled wastes of the Sahara along the borders of Niger, Mali, Algeria and Libya, where they flourished.

The standoff has put the spotlight on these Al Qaeda-linked groups that roam these remote areas, threatening vital infrastructure and energy interests. The militants initially said their operation was intended to stop a French attack on Islamist militants in neighboring Mali -- though they later said it was two months in the planning, long before the French intervention.

The militants, who came from a Mali-based Al Qaeda splinter group run by an Algerian, attacked the plant Wednesday morning. Armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers in four-wheel drive vehicles, they fell on a pair of buses taking foreign workers to the airport. The buses' military escort drove off the attackers in a blaze of gunfire that sent bullets zinging over the heads of crouching workers. A Briton and an Algerian -- probably a security guard -- were killed.

The militants then turned to the vast gas complex, divided between the workers' living quarters and the refinery itself, and seized hostages, the Algerian government said. The gas flowing to the site was cut off.

Saturday's government statement said the militants came across the border from "neighboring countries," while the militants said they came from Niger, hundreds of miles (kilometers) to the south.

On Thursday, Algerian helicopters kicked off the military's first assault on the complex by opening fire on a convoy carrying both kidnappers and their hostages to stop them from escaping, resulting in many deaths, according to witnesses.

The accounts of hostages who escaped the standoff showed they faced dangers from both the kidnappers and the military.

Ruben Andrada, 49, a Filipino civil engineer who works as one of the project management staff for the Japanese company JGC Corp., described how he and his colleagues were used as human shields by the kidnappers, which did little to deter the Algerian military.

On Thursday, about 35 hostages guarded by 15 militants were loaded into seven SUVs in a convoy to move them from the housing complex to the refinery, Andrada said. The militants placed "an explosive cord" around their necks and were told it would detonate if they tried to run away, he said.

"When we left the compound, there was shooting all around," Andrada said, as Algerian helicopters attacked with guns and missiles. "I closed my eyes. We were going around in the desert. To me, I left it all to fate."

Andrada's vehicle overturned allowing him and a few others to escape. He sustained cuts and bruises and was grazed by a bullet on his right elbow. He later saw the blasted remains of other vehicles, and the severed leg of one of the gunmen.

The site of the gas plant spreads out over several acres and includes a housing complex and the processing site, about a mile apart, making it especially complicated for the Algerians to secure the site and likely contributed to the lengthy standoff.

"It's a big and complex site. It's a huge place with a lot of people there and a lot of hiding places for hostages and terrorists," said Col. Richard Kemp, a retired commander of British forces who had dealt with hostage rescues in Iraq and Afghanistan. "These are experienced terrorists holding the hostages."

While the Algerian government has only admitted to 23 hostages dead so far, the militants claimed through the Mauritanian news website ANI that the helicopter attack alone killed 35 hostages.

One American, a Texan -- Frederick Buttaccio from the Houston suburb of Katy -- is among the dead.

French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Saturday that a Frenchman killed, Yann Desjeux, was a former member of the French special forces and part of the security team. The remaining three French nationals who were at the plant are now free, the Foreign Ministry said.

The British government said Saturday it is trying to determine the fate of six people from Britain who are either dead or unaccounted for.

Prime Minister David Cameron of Britain said, "There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."

The Norwegian government said there were five Norwegians unaccounted for.

Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta said Saturday one Romanian hostage was killed in the course of the siege, while the Malaysian government said two of its citizens were still missing.

The attack by the Masked Brigade, founded by Algerian militant Moktar Belmoktar, had been in the works for two months, a member of the brigade told the ANI news outlet. He said militants targeted Algeria because they expected the country to support the international effort to root out extremists in neighboring Mali and it was carried out by a special commando unit, "Those Who Signed in Blood," tasked with attacking nations supporting intervention in Mali.

The kidnappers focused on the foreign workers, largely leaving alone the hundreds of Algerian workers who were briefly held hostage before being released or escaping.

Several of them arrived haggard-looking on a late-night flight into Algiers on Friday and described how the militants stormed the living quarters and immediately separated out the foreigners.

Mohamed, a 37-year-old nurse who like the others wouldn't allow his last name to be used for fear of trouble for himself or his family, said at least five people were shot to death, their bodies still in front of the infirmary when he left Thursday night.

Chabane, an Algerian who worked in food services, said he bolted out the window and was hiding when he heard the militants speaking among themselves with Libyan, Egyptian and Tunisian accents. At one point, he said, they caught a Briton.

"They threatened him until he called out in English to his friends, telling them, `Come out, come out. They're not going to kill you. They're looking for the Americans,"' Chabane said. "A few minutes later, they blew him away."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Those that refuse to read....have no advantage over those that cannot read.

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I know you think it's Bushes fault, he left your idol the presidency. It would have been Okay if he were qualified.

jonjon, boy to you tell the truth about "O" . Man I was driving down the street when my tires fell off my car. I ended up in a ditch and I blame Obama for my tires coming off because I just had to have those "big O" brand tires! :lol:

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Pretty bad when the rescue team kills more hostages then the terrorists do, using a gunship to hammer the area?

Wasn't it jonjon and his crew calling for a gunship when Benghazi happened?

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Wasn't it jonjon and his crew calling for a gunship when Benghazi happened?

Possible and in that case I would have agreed with him. Totally different type of Op. This situation they didn't know where the hostages were nor how many were there, not a good idea to hammer an area like that full of possible human shields, (which these losers are well known for using, ask Bin Laden's wife), not to mention it's a gas facility! <_< Benghazi we certainly should've brought in the heat, we had plenty of time to do it before the terror cell penetrated the embassy. No hostages prior to that, air support would have and should have been brought in to hammer these clowns because we were well with in range to do it, if you've never seen a flyover when you are on the receiving end, it will make the bravest of men fill their shorts. Anyone who runs is a terrorist anyone who stands still is a well disciplined terrorist! :P At least a couple passes from the air would have cleared out the majority of them and given our guys more time for us to get them out. Instead O and Co. chose to ignore their pleas for help at Benghazi and now it's coming back to bite him in the @$$!

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Yet again, Obama stands by and does NOTHING!!!

And just what would you have him do?

Even is he could do something, on foreign soil, and military ... most of you guys who are dumping on him for doing "nothing" when he cannot do anything anyway, would be dumping on him for doing what he would have done ... on foreign soil, and military.

Face it, there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING, that President Obama would or could do that you would agree with.

smee2

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And just what would you have him do?

Even is he could do something, on foreign soil, and military ... most of you guys who are dumping on him for doing "nothing" when he cannot do anything anyway, would be dumping on him for doing what he would have done ... on foreign soil, and military.

Face it, there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING, that President Obama would or could do that you would agree with.

smee2

Actually Smee there is this one thing he could do that I would agree with.

RESIGN. smile.gif

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Ridiculous title, Even in the story it quotes the president's response, this has nothing to do with Pres. Obama as it was in Algeria. I am not pleased with his policies either, but at least I am not making up or stretching everything out there to seem like his fault. Posts like the one above just makes the far right look very foolish and extreme.

Txcountryman - ALL of the terrorists were killed...should we go after their families and kill them as well? What about any pets they may have owned? Tell me in your wisdom since it is obvious that the USA has done nothing what YOU would suggest being done here in this situation?

I also await the NEGS I will obviously get for disagreeing and making a questioning post that differs slightly with the views of the far extreme right wink.gif

obama hussein has dropped the ball pursuing Al Quieda on the ground..., thus we have more fatalities!

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The reason Obama is responsible for most terrorism

REMEMBER THIS

bow.jpg?w=200&h=268MuslimsAtCapital2009-500x346.jpg

What do you think he should have done? You cannot blame Obama for everything happening in this world...

He should have been playing golf.

If he played like he leads he would have quit already.

obama-golfing-300x225.jpg?84cd58

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