Hostages Taken at Algerian Gas Field

[Ulrik]

Gunmen have taken foreign gas field employees hostage in Algeria in retaliation of the French air stirkes against al-Qaeda rebels in neighbouring Mali. French President Francois Hollande launched the attacks in a surprise operation to deal with what he believes are Islamist fanatics who pose a threat tot eh world.

The hostages are from France, Japan, the UK, the US, and Norway.

Algerian forces have surround the facility where the hostages are being kept.

Will acts like this become more common place as political instability, and armed conflict become more common around the Middle East and Africa?

[Ed Mojica]

French soldiers are now planning to make a ground assault in conjunction with West African soldiers in an attempt to drive the insurgents from Mali.

[Seabastian.Smith]

Well that went well!

Moral of the story: If you want something done properly do it yourself.

Western nations with citizens being held hostage allowed Algerian forces to deal with the situation themselves, despite offering their own special forces to undertake a delicate extraction mission to free the hostages.

They could only look on in horror as Algerian jets bombed the facility, killing 34 of the hostages, and just 15 of the terrorists. Not exactly the precise military operation they were expecting. More of a sledge hammer to the scalpel they were offering.

[CythSmal]

I dont know what to make of all this. Obviously the basic facts are out there, but the details seem to change depending on which article you read. The other day various articles were saying that between 6-41 foreign hostages were being held. Then yesterday other articles were saying that anything from 7-34 foreign hostages were killed. And now today I read a piece saying that around 60 foreign hostages are still to be released.

Who is correct?

[KitemanSA]

Gunmen have taken foreign gas field employees hostage in Algeria in retaliation of the French air stirkes against al-Qaeda rebels in neighbouring Mali.

Link to source for Al-Qaeda reference please? I thought these were Tuareg rebels.