BREAKING: 35 Hostages and 15 Kidnappers Killed by Air Strikes by Algerian Army [View all]

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Last edited Thu Jan 17, 2013, 10:00 AM - Edit history (2)

Source: Reuters

@Reuters: BREAKING: 34 hostages and 15 kidnappers killed by air strikes by Algerian army - ANI news agency http://t.co/r5zLvpLQ

@Reuters: 180 Algerian hostages escape siege - local source http://t.co/r5zLvpLQ

@Reuters: RT @AJEnglish: BREAKING: 35 hostages and 15 hostage takers killed in Algeria as they tried to move from one plant location to another.

@BreakingNews: Algerian helicopter attack kills at least 34 hostages and 15 kidnappers in Sahara standoff, militants say - @AP, @Reuters

@CBSNews: Militants: Algerian copter attack kills 35 hostages and 15 kidnappers in Sahara standoff DEVELOPING ...

Reports say many hostages killed in Algeria siege

Thu Jan 17, 2013 8:30am EST

By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS (Reuters) - A Mauritanian news agency that has been in constant contact with kidnappers holding dozens of Western hostages in Algeria reported on Thursday that 34 of the captives had been killed in air strikes.

It was not immediately possible to confirm the report by the ANI news agency, which said 14 kidnappers had also been killed in air strikes by the Algerian armed forces, which had surrounded the remote desert gas pumping station where the kidnappers were holed up.

Qatar-based Al Jazeera television carried a similar report, citing its own sources.

ANI quoted a spokesman for the kidnappers as saying they would kill the rest of their captives if the army approached.

Governments around the world were holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades, which sharply raised the stakes in a week-old French campaign against al Qaeda-linked rebels in the Sahara.

An Algerian security source earlier said 25 foreign hostages had escaped the besieged compound, including two Japanese.

The source told Reuters the captors had demanded safe passage out with their prisoners. Algeria has refused to negotiate with what it says is a band of about 20 fighters.

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BREAKING: 34 hostages killed in air strike by Algerian forces

NOUAKCHOTT- Thirty-four hostages and 14 of their al Qaeda-linked kidnappers were killed on Thursday in an air strike by the Algerian armed forces, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported, citing one of the kidnappers holding captives at a desert gas field.

It was not immediately possible to independently verify the information from the agency, which has close contact with the group which has claimed responsibility for the mass kidnapping.

ANI reported that the spokesman for the kidnappers said they would kill the rest of their captives if the army approached.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE90F1JJ20130117

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