Wednesday, January 16, 2013

These terrorists are carrying explosives, they’re threatening to blow up the plant


An undated grab from a video obtained by ANI Mauritanian news agency reportedly shows former Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaking at an undisclosed location. Islamists are holding 41 foreigners hostage, including seven Americans, after an attack on a gas field in eastern Algeria, a spokesman for the militants told two Mauritanian news websites.

AN Irishman was under threat of death last night as al-Qaeda vowed to massacre dozens of hostages unless France and the UK quit their terror purge in Mali.

The 36-year-old married dad-of-two was among the 41 foreigners seized at a desert gas field by fanatics in neighbouring Algeria.
A picture taken on December 14, 2008 shows a foreign delegation visiting the Krechba gas treatment plant run by the Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, about 1,200 km (746 miles) south of Algiers. One person was killed and seven wounded on January 16, 2013, including two foreigners, when Islamist militants attacked a base for oil workers in southern Algeria, state media reported. The attack took place at dawn in the Tinguentourine region, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) from In Amenas, where British oil giant BP operates a gas field in partnership with Algeria's Sonatrach, the APS news agency reported, citing local officials.
They were being held at a desert gas complex — which the Islamic fanatics were last night threatening to blow up.
A Brit and a French national were murdered in yesterday morning’s terrifying attack.
An envoy from the north African country revealed grimly as troops there laid siege to the BP plant: “The terrorists are threatening to blow it up if the army intervenes.
“They are said to be extremely well-armed and carrying large amounts of explosives.”
One frightened hostage managed to make a phone call from the gas field near the Libyan border — confirming the maniacs had “mined” it.
In this undated image released Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013, by BP petroleum company, showing the Amenas natural gas field in the eastern central region of Algeria, where Islamist militants raided and took hostages Wednesday Jan. 16, 2013. Islamist militants from Mali attacked the Amenas natural gas field partly operated by BP in Algeria early on Wednesday, killing a security guard and kidnapping at least eight people, including English, Norwegian and Japanese nationals, an Algerian security official and local media reported.
We are not naming the Irishman, who is married and lives in Belfast, after requests from his family and the Department of Foreign Affairs amid fears it could jeopardise his safety.
Speaking to the Irish Sun last night, his father said: “This is very stressful on all of us. We are getting our information from the TV — we don’t know what’s happening out there.
“We’re waiting to hear more from the Department of Foreign Affairs and that’s all I can say.”
A family friend said the man’s wife was “in a bad way”.
The pal added: “She is just lost with all this.”
Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore last night called for the Irish passport holder’s immediate release.
He said the Government “stands ready to use all of the resources available to us to ensure our citizen is released as soon as possible”. Troops held back from storming the BP complex as the terrorists warned of “disastrous” consequences.
Brutes calling themselves the Masked Brigade or ‘Signed In Blood’ Battalion were feared to be behind the outrage. Their leader is Mokhtar Belmokhtar — a senior al-Qaeda commander also known as Abu al-Abbas.
Last night his cohorts issued ultimatums as they referred darkly to the “safety” of captives, who also include five Brits, seven Americans, four Japanese and a Norwegian.

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