Africa

Africa

15 militants killed by Algerian army in rescue operation in Illizi gas-field: medical source

17 January 2013 21:43 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A total of 15 "terrorists" were killed in the onslaught launched Thursday by the Algerian army to free hostages held by an armed group linked to al-Qaida since Wednesday morning at a gas-field compound in the province of Illizi, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

Speaking to Xinhua on condition of anonymity, a source at the hospital of In Amenas, 40 km away from Illizi, said the dead bodies are currently kept at the morgue of the hospital pending identification.

The Algerian authorities have by now provided neither the number of people being held hostage, nor the death toll of the rescue operation. Rumors said earlier that over 30 hostages were killed, but it could not be independently verified.

At dawn on Wednesday, an armed group attacked a gas-field in the locality of Tiguentourine in Illizi, as they killed two people and injured six, according to official source. At least 41 foreigners were kidnapped by the armed group called "Battalion of Blood."

On Thursday, at least four hostages were freed in the army's rescue raid, according to the APS news agency.

The four were two Britons, one Frenchman and a Kenyan national, the APS said, adding that an unspecified number of people were killed in the rescue raid.

Meanwhile, nearly 600 Algerian workers at the gas plant were released Thursday by special forces the People's National Army ( ANP), the APS said, without giving the conditions of released. It added that a total of 30 Algerian workers managed to escape on Thursday morning and they were transferred to safe places by ANP helicopters.

Birand, who covers political and diplomatic affairs, has been practicing journalism in Turkey since the late 1970s. He interviewed numerous world leaders in the late Cold War era, including then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the late leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Yasser Arafat and Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Birand's program “32. Gün” (32nd Day) became a brand name in news broadcasting in the 1980s and trained many well-known TV journalists in Turkey.

He also witnessed several key political developments abroad and at home, including military coups, and he received harsh criticism from the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) for his stance on the Kurdish issue in the 1990s.

Birand likewise drew ire from secular circles when he confessed that most Turkish seculars had been happy to see a military intervention on Feb. 28, 1997, rather than live under a government led by a conservative party.