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The gas facility in Ain Amenas, Algeria. (BP / EPA) |
Islamic militants seized a natural gas field and took foreigners hostage early Wednesday morning in eastern Algeria, killing two people and injuring six others, according to Algerian state media.
"The site was attacked and occupied by a group of unidentified armed people," energy giant BP said in a statement Wednesday afternoon in Britain. BP jointly operates the Ain Amenas field with the Algerian national oil company and the Norwegian company Statoil.
Although contacting the gas field was "extremely difficult," the company said, it understood that the attackers were still occupying the field, and believed that some of the workers were being held.
Algerian state media reported that two people were killed, including a person from Britain, and six others were wounded, including two foreigners, two security agents and two members of the military police.
Islamic extremists claimed to have carried out the attack and said they had seized 41 hostages, including seven Americans, telling Mauritanian media that a group called "Those Who Signed in Blood" was targeting Algeria for allowing French jets to use its airspace. France is battling Islamic militants in nearby Mali, stoking the ire of extremist groups.
Japanese and British officials confirmed Wednesday that some of their citizens had been caught up in the attack; the Irish foreign minister said an Irish citizen also was reportedly among the kidnapped workers. There was no immediate confirmation of whether U.S. citizens were among those seized.
[Updated, 10:12 a.m. Jan. 16: State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said at a news briefing that U.S. citizens are believed to be among the hostages. "In order to protect their safety, I'm not going to get into numbers, I'm not going to get into names," she said.
Nuland said Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was speaking to the Algerian prime minister and that "we are obviously closely monitoring the situation."]
The Algerian Interior Ministry said a heavily armed terrorist group had first unsuccessfully targeted a bus that was leaving a base for workers at the gas field, killing one foreigner in the attempt, then attacked the base itself and "captured an undetermined number of workers," the official Algerian Press Service reported.The Algerian military and security forces "arrived on the scene and immediately took all measures to secure the region and find a quick solution to this situation," the ministry stated.
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