Brussels, 17/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - Thirty-four foreigners taken hostage on the gas field of In Amenas since Wednesday have been killed and seven are still alive after a raid on 17 January, a spokesperson from the group that carried out the abduction told the Mauritanian news agency ANI. The Algerian news agency APS said for its part that four foreign hostages - one French, two British and one Kenyan - had been freed by the army during this operation against the Islamists, who claimed to be holding around 40 hostages. APS also announced that 600 Algerian hostages had been freed. “Three Belgians, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton have survived the Algerian air raid against their place of detention”, ANI stated. By contrast, 34 others as well as 15 kidnappers have been killed, ANI adds.
On Thursday 17 January, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton condemned the terrorist attack against the facilities of Sonatrach, BP and Statoil, in south-west Algeria, and expressed her “greatest concern”, deploring the death of several members of staff working on the site and the abduction of others. She called on “the abductors to immediately release the hostages” they hold, and expressed her “sympathy to the families of the victims” and her “solidarity with the hostages, their respective governments and the Algerian Authorities who are presently engaged in the release of the hostages”.
President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz offered his condolences on the morning of Thursday 17 January to the family of the Briton who died during the hostage taking and to all the families of the people taken hostage. “This proves the tense nature of the situation. The threat of the Jihadists is very large and it's a threat that we must take extremely seriously. On behalf of the European Parliament, I hope for a peaceful end, without any victims”, he concluded (our translation). (CG/FB/OL/transl.fl)