On Saturday, March 2, at noon, Chadian armed forces operating in northern Mali completely destroyed a terrorist base. …The toll included several dead terrorists, including their leader Mokhtar Belmokhtar.A statement from the Chadian armed forces • Announcing the killing of Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an al-Qaeda commander who claimed responsibility for masterminding a lethal hostage situation at an Algerian gas plant in January. Chad’s President Idriss Deby also announced Friday that his forces had killed Adelhamid Abou Zeid, another prominent al-Qaeda commander, in the same area as the attack that killed Belmokhtar. The French, who launched jet strikes on mountain regions in Northern Mali believed to house bases for Islamic militants, have not yet confirmed the deaths of either Belmokhtar or Abou Zeid. source
This is the final phase of the process since it is in that massif [the Ifoghas mountains] that AQIM forces have probably regrouped. Our Chadian friends launched an attack yesterday which was very harsh with significant loss of life. I want to praise what the Chadians are doing.French President Francois Hollande • Speaking on his nation’s military collaboration, along with African forces, against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, a militant group in Mali now waging a weakening insurgency in the country’s far north. The group had claimed control of broad swaths of northern Mali in 2012, causing the government to request international military help, which Hollande and France (Mali was a French colony until 1960) have provided in the form of 4,000 soldiers deployed. And lest you think there’s a military operation of this sort the United States isn’t involved in, predator drones have been offered to the effort as well, which U.S. officials claim will be used to glean deployment information. source
The prime minister of Algeria offered an unapologetic defense on Monday of the country’s tough actions to end the Sahara hostage crisis, saying that the militants who had carried out the kidnappings intended to kill all their captives and that the army saved many from death by attacking.
But the assertion came as the death toll of foreign hostages rose sharply, to 37, and as American officials said they had offered sophisticated surveillance help that could minimize casualties, both before and during the military operation to retake a seized gas field complex in the Algerian desert.
While some have shunned the Algerian government’s decision to pass on several Western countries’ offers to assist with the situation, Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal staunchly defended Algerians right to protect themselves from any/all attackers. “Algerians are not people who sell themselves out,” Sellal told members of the press, adding, “When the security of the country is at stake, there is no possible discussion.”
News that the attack at In Amenas was apparently led by a Canadian appeared to confirm reports that the region, especially the northern areas of Mali that are now controlled by violent Islamists, has become a magnet for radicals from all over the world.
The Maghreb Emergent website had already quoted one Algerian worker at the gas installation as saying that the kidnappers included Libyans, Egyptian and Syrian radicals.
Bad news continues to emerge from the Algerian gas field attacked by militant fighters last week, an act of terrorism which was allegedly carried out in retaliation for French intervention in Mali. New reports suggest nearly 40 foreign hostages died as a result of the attack, which came to an end after Algerian forces attempted to storm the complex last Thursday. Think the United States should be more involved?
The Algerian hostage crisis isn’t over yet, Cameron says: Speaking to the House of Commons this morning, British Prime Minister David Cameron described the crisis as an “ongoing operation,” with Algerian forces working to capture the suspects, along with at least some of the hostages. “This is a large and complex site and they are still pursuing terrorists and possibly some of the hostages,” Cameron was quoted as saying. Exact numbers haven’t been verified at this point, and multiple sources are reporting different things. Cameron noted the British government’s frustration that the Algerian government started their mission without consulting British officials. (They offered their help, which the Algerians declined.)
They (Algerians) are likely to feel vindicated, and to reject any criticism for their reaction to a domestic crisis they feel were brought about by Western actions they advised against.Geoff Porter of North Africa Risk Consulting • Discussing the current situation with the Algerian hostage crisis, which ended violently and has featured wildly varying reports regarding death toll. Porter is referring to Algerian officials’ position that Western officials should not have intervened in the region. The hostage situation took place at a natural gas complex deep in the Sahara desert, and hostages were of numerous nationalities, including American.
Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of Western and local captives, an Algerian security source said.
Details remained scant - including for Western governments, some of which did little to disguise irritation at being kept in the dark by Algeria before the raid and its bloody outcome.
Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among at least seven foreigners killed, the source told Reuters. Eight of the dead hostages were Algerian. The nationalities of the rest, as well as of perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear.
One of the worst international hostage situations in the modern era has now come to an end; unfortunately, Thursday evening brought about what many would consider to be the worst possible outcome. Our thoughts go out to the family and friends of the deceased.
UPDATE: Information from varying sources is wildly different, according to USA Today, with some suggesting just a few casualties and others, including the Reuters report, suggesting as many as 30 people have died.
I’m moving back to New York in a few days. Unlike past...
OMG. I got so...
In this week’s Newsweek, a little...
Tumblr this morning. [h/t anne]
#@#$%!.tumblr.com
Here’s a hidden feature that shipped in...
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Weird timing: Gaddafi’s only daughter gives birth in Algeria: Aisha Gaddafi, referred to as the “Claudia Schiffer” of the Arab region in this CNN article, reportedly just gave birth a day after leaving Libya with her mom. She lost a daughter during a NATO airstrike in April. source
Time to take bets: Did Gaddafi leave to Algeria with his family? Throw your money down, guys.
Didn’t anyone ever tell her that she could make way more money if she ran a SEO-scraping spamblog? It’d make her reconsider that whole copper-scraping racket.
Muammar Gaddafi, still horrible: Included in this already striking video showing Libyan rebels firing on a state war plane overhead, Muammar Gaddafi held a press conference of sorts in which he again claimed there isn’t a domestic uprising against him. He said that small groups of dissidents have entered Libya from Afghanistan, Algeria, Egypt and Palestine, but rest assured, Libyans are still with him. It’d be amusing, if he weren’t brutally killing his own people. source
Copyright 2009-2013 Ernie Smith • Ask us stuff! • E-mail us • Follow us on Twitter • Follow us on Facebook
