Sahara Islamists take hostages, spreading Mali war

Sahara Islamists take hostages, spreading Mali war Wed, Jan 16 18:54 PM EST 1 of 11 By Lamine Chikhi and Bate Felix ALGIERS/BAMAKO (Reuters) - Islamist fighters seized dozens of Western and Algerian hostages in a dawn raid on a natural gas facility deep in the Sahara on Wednesday and demanded France halt a new offensive against rebels in neighboring Mali. Three people, among them one British and one French, were reported killed, but details were sketchy and numbers of those held at Tigantourine ranged from 41 foreigners - including perhaps seven Americans as well as Japanese and Europeans - to over 100 local staff, held separately and less closely watched. What is clear is that with a dramatic counterpunch to this week's French build-up in Mali, the region's loosely allied, al Qaeda-inspired radicals have set Paris a daunting dilemma and spread fallout from Mali's hitherto obscure civil war far beyond northwest Africa, challenging Washington as well as Europeans and shutting down a major gas field that pumps energy to Europe. The attack, which Algeria said was led by a veteran, Afghan-trained holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence, came just as French ground troops in Mali launched their first assault after six days of air strikes. The United States, which like European powers endorsed France's decision to intervene last week against Islamists who have seized vast tracts of northern Mali, confirmed Americans were among the hostages and said it would work to "secure" them. Western and African governments have been alarmed by a flow of weapons and fighters across the unmarked Sahara borders following the end of Libya's civil war in 2011 and fear that Mali, where Islamists drive the national army from the north nine months ago, could become an Afghan-style al Qaeda haven. The militants, who said they had dozens of fighters in the gas field, issued no explicit threat but made clear to media in neighboring Mauritania the hostages' lives were at risk. "We hold the Algerian government and the French government and the countries of the hostages fully responsible if our demands are not met and it is up to them to stop the brutal aggression against our people in Mali," read one statement from the group, which called itself the "Battalion of Blood". In other comments carried by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, the group said its fighters had rigged explosives around the site and any attempt to free the hostages would lead to a "tragic end". The unusually large numbers of gunmen and hostages involved pose serious problems for any rescue operation. After dark, ANI quoted a militant source saying fighters had repelled a raid by Algerian troops. He added that the hostage-takers' weaponry included mortars and anti-aircraft missiles. AMERICANS The militants said seven Americans were among the 41 foreign hostages - a figure U.S. officials said they could not confirm. Norwegian energy company Statoil, which operates the gas field in a joint venture with Britain's BP and the Algerian state company Sonatrach, said nine of its Norwegian employees and three of its Algerian staff were being held. Also reported kidnapped by various sources were five Japanese working for the engineering firm JGC Corp, a French national, an Austrian, an Irishman and a number of Britons. The Algerian government, which fought a bloody civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, said it would not negotiate. French media said the militants were also demanding that Algeria release dozens of Islamist prisoners from its jails. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said: "I want to assure the American people that the United States will take all necessary and proper steps that are required to deal with this situation." He said he lacked firm information on whether there were links to the situation in Mali. Analysts pointed to shifting alliances and rivalries among Islamists in the region to suggest the hostage-takers may have a range of motives. In their own statements, they condemned Algeria's secularist government for "betraying" its predecessors in the bloody anti-colonial war against French rule half a century ago by letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali. They also accused Algeria of shutting its border to Malian refugees. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia told the state news agency APS there were about 20 hostage-takers led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, an Algerian who fought against Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and set up his own group in the Sahara recently after falling out with other al Qaeda leaders. Some of those held at the facility, near the small town of In Amenas, close to the Libyan border and about 1,300 km (800 miles) inland, had sporadic contact with the outside world. The head of a French catering company said he had information from a manager who supervised some 150 Algerian employees at the site. Regis Arnoux of CIS Catering told France's BFM television the local staff were being prevented from leaving but were otherwise free to move around inside and keep on working. "The Westerners are kept in a separate wing of the base," Arnoux said. "They are tied up and are being filmed. Electricity is cut off, and mobile phones have no charge. "Direct action seems very difficult ... Algerian officials have told the French authorities as well as BP that they have the situation under control and do not need their assistance." MALI OFFENSIVE Just days after a bold deployment of French troops to Mali, another former colony, that had largely silenced critics questioning his leadership after eight months in office, French President Francois Hollande faced a possible further escalation of the conflict, with Western targets at risk across Africa. He has called for international support against insurgents who France says pose a threat to Africa and the West, and admits it faces a long struggle against well-equipped fighters who seized Timbuktu and other oasis towns in northern Mali and have imposed Islamic law, including public amputation and beheading. Islamists have warned Hollande that he has "opened the gates of hell" for all French citizens. French army chief Edouard Guillaud said ground forces were stepping up their operation to engage directly "within hours" the alliance of Islamist fighters, grouping al Qaeda's North African wing AQIM and Mali's home grown Ansar Dine and MUJWA. Residents said a column of some 30 French Sagaie armored vehicles has set off toward rebel positions from the town of Niono, 300 km (190 miles) from the capital Bamako. A Malian military source said French special forces units were taking part in the operation. Guillaud said France's strikes, involving Rafale and Mirage jet fighters, were being hampered because militants were sheltering among civilians. Many inhabitants of northern Mali have welcomed the French attacks though some also fear being caught in the cross-fire. Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian acknowledged that France faced a hard slog, particularly in western Mali where AQIM's mostly foreign fighters have camps: "It's tough. We were aware from the beginning it would be a very difficult operation." Hollande said on Tuesday that French forces would remain in Mali until stability returned to the West African nation. Hollande said France hoped, however, to hand over to African forces in its former colony, "in the coming days or weeks". West African military chiefs met for a second day in Bamako to hammer out details of a U.N.-mandated deployment that had been expected to start only in September but was suddenly kick-started by French intervention. They said their aim was to send in the first units of a 2,000-man emergency force on Thursday. Hollande's intervention in Mali brings risks for eight French hostages held by AQIM in the Sahara as well as the 30,000 French citizens living across West Africa. A French helicopter pilot was killed on Friday, France's only combat death so far. The conflict in Mali, a landlocked state of 15 million twice the size of France, has displaced an estimated 30,000 people and raised concerns across mostly Muslim West Africa of a radicalization of Islam in the region. "There is a great hope," one man said from Timbuktu, where he said Islamist fighters were trying to blend into civilian neighborhoods. "We hope that the city will be freed soon." (Additional reporting by Pascal Fletcher and Andrew Callus in London, Balazs Koranyi in Oslo, Laurent Prieur in Nouakchott, Daniel Flynn in Dakar, John Irish, Catherine Bremer and Nick Vinocur in Paris, David Alexander in Rome and Andrew Quinn in Washington; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ======== Union of World Muslim Scholars:Serious efforts must be made to end war in Mali 16 January 2013 22:25 (Last updated 16 January 2013 22:29) Union of World Muslim Scholars underlined that France acted hastily in its military intervention in Mali. CAIRO The Union of World Muslim Scholars wanted the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and African countries to make serious efforts to end the war in Mali and find a peaceful solution. In a written statement released, the Union of World Muslim Scholars underlined that France acted hastily in its military intervention in Mali. We are very concerned with the developments in Mali, the Union of World Muslim Scholars stressed. " France acted very hastily with its military intervention inMali. Military intervention will bring damage, death and migration. The military intervention will make things worse in Mali," the union also said. ================== French defense minister: Difficult job 16 January 2013 13:29 (Last updated 16 January 2013 14:11) French Minister of Defense said that they knew the mission in Mali wouldn't be easy to carry on. PARIS French Minister of Defense Jean-Yves Le Drian on Wednesday said, "We knew the military mission to be difficult in Mali from the very beginning" in regards to the hardening conditions while proceeding to the northern region of Mali. "The French troops on duty in Mali have worked to protect the civilians in the capital including French and EU citizens until this day. The troops started moving up north" said Le Drian to the RTL radio. The French Minister stated that they were intensifying air attacks on rebel camps to ease the work of the land forces. Stating that the situation in Mali was more favorable compared to the previous week, Le Drian said that the conflict would go on for a while. France has 800 soldiers in Mali at the moment and aims to increase this number to 2500 gradually. =========================== Algeria government says had to storm plant, action continues Thu, Jan 17 14:32 PM EST 1 of 11 ALGIERS (Reuters) - Algeria's government spokesman confirmed some hostages were killed in a continuing military operation at a desert gas plant on Thursday but said troops had been forced to act to free them due to the "diehard" attitude of their captors. In the first official comments by the government on the day's events, Communication Minister Mohamed Said was quoted as telling state news agency APS that many militants had been killed and that efforts to free foreign hostages were going on. He acknowledged there had been "several deaths and injuries" among the hostages, but insisted Algeria, which fought a bloody war against Islamists through the 1990s, would not negotiate. "We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite in the struggle against terrorism," APS quoted Said as saying. Adding that Algerian forces had done all they could to ensure the hostages' survival and bring the siege to a successful conclusion, he blamed "the diehard attitude of the terrorists" for forcing the military to launch its operation. Western leaders whose citizens are among the hostages, including British Prime Minister David Cameron, said they were told of the assault only after it started. He told Britons to prepare for "bad news" and an aide said Cameron would have preferred to have been consulted before the raid began. Said said the militants' goals had been to destabilize Algeria and draw it in to the civil war in Mali. The guerrillas had demanded that France stop its offensive against Mali's Islamist rebels and that Algerian withdraw its cooperation with the French operation. (Reporting by Lamine Chikhi; Editing by Alastair Macdonald) =================== Irishman freed in Algeria hostage crisis Updated: 19:22, Thursday, 17 January 2013 Stephen McFaul rang his wife and family this afternoon to say he was safe The natural gas complex is now surrounded by Algerian troops Irishman held hostage in Algeria is freed Great relief amongst McFaul family Related Stories Irish oil worker kidnapped in Algeria The Irishman who was being held hostage at a gas facility in eastern Algeria has been freed. The Department of Foreign Affairs has said that Stephen McFaul contacted his wife and Irish diplomats this afternoon to say he was safe and well. Mr McFaul indicated he was in another part of the complex to the one attacked by Algerian forces earlier today. The 36-year-old, who works a Scandinavian oil company, was born in Belfast and lives in Antrim. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore this afternoon said: "I am extremely thankful and relieved to learn that the Irish national who was a hostage in Algeria has made contact with his family and is safe. "I spoke with his family yesterday, and I know how relieved they will be that he is well after his ordeal. This is the news that we all wanted to hear. "At the same time, my thoughts are with the other oil-field workers who are caught up in this terrible situation and with their families who are also waiting for news at this difficult time." DUP MP Ian Paisley Jnr has said he had been informed by the UK government that one of the hostages still being held was from his North Antrim constituency. However, Mr Gilmore has said there was no other person from Northern Ireland involved. There were reports earlier from a Mauritanian news agency that 34 hostages were killed in air strikes by the Algerian military. ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the militants, also said 14 kidnappers had been killed in the air strikes. A kidnapper told ANI that seven hostages are still being held. He said they were three Belgians, two Americans, one Japanese and one British citizen. A local source has told Reuters that 180 Algerian hostages managed to escape, while some are still being held. Reuters also reported that a local source had said six foreign hostages and eight of their captors were killed by a military strike on a vehicle being used by the kidnappers. The Algerian army has surrounded the remote desert gas pumping station in In Amenas where the kidnappers were holding the remaining foreigners captive. ANI quoted a spokesman for the kidnappers as saying they would kill the rest of their captives if the army approached. Governments around the world are holding emergency meetings to respond to one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades. The Tánaiste has been speaking to the Algerian Foreign Minister, and urged him to use "great care, caution, subtlety and patience" in dealing with the situation. Algeria has refused to negotiate with what it said is a band of about 20 fighters. A group calling itself the "Battalion of Blood" claimed responsibility for the attacks. It said it seized 41 foreigners, including Americans, Japanese and Europeans, after storming the pumping station and employee barracks before dawn yesterday. The attackers have demanded an end to the French military campaign in Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against rebels a week after France began firing on militants from the air. ================ Algeria says hostages killed in military raid on gas field, militants 'neutralised' AFP January 18, 20137:48AM Increase Text Size Decrease Text Size Print Email •Who is behind the BP Algeria attack? • Algerian forces raid BP gas field • Militants say 35 hostages killed Watch Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike Reports suggest hostages, among dozens of locals and foreigners held at an Algerian oil plant, have escaped, while others have been killed ... Algeria oil hostages reported dead after air strike .... REPORTS suggest 25 foreign hostages escaped and six were killed when Algeria launched a military raid at a natural gas plant held by Islamic militants. Algeria's state news agency APS reported about 7.30am AEST that the military operation to free hostages at a remote desert gas facility had ended, quoting an unnamed official source who gave no further details. Reuters is quoting "Algerian sources" for the casualty figures, which included eight of the militants being killed. Foreign governments have expressed growing alarm over the safety of their citizens as reports indicated the ongoing rescue operation had left many hostages dead. Algeria confirmed several captives had been killed or wounded when the Algerian army struck the militants' positions inside the In Amenas plant. Officials said fleeing Islamists had been "neutralised". Initial reports suggest at least four foreign national hostages have been freed. Stephen McFaul, a 36-year-old Irish electrician, phoned his wife early this morning to tell them he was safe. A family photograph of escaped Irish hostage Stephen McFaul, seen with his sons. Mr McFaul has contacted his family in Belfast to tell them he is safe, Ireland said. Picture: AFP/HO/Family album . His Belfast family says it cannot believe he's escaped from the Algerian hostage crisis - and never wants him to work in the oil fields there again. While dozens of families in many nations waited in hope for similar news, the McFauls jumped with joy and expressed tearful disbelief. His sobbing 13-year-old son Dylan said "I feel over the moon. ... I'll never let him go back there." He plans to give his father "a big hug, and I won't let go." Japan demanded the assault be "immediately" stopped, while Britain and the United States, both of which also have nationals among the hostages at the remote gas plant in the Algerian desert, voiced concern. British Prime Minister David Cameron cancelled a key speech he was to give today on the future of the European Union, citing the unfolding crisis. A photo of the In Amenas gas field in Algeria, where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign hostages on Wednesday. Picture: AFP/Statoil/Kjetil Alsvik . Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague will return early from his trip to Australia to deal with the Algeria crisis, the Foreign Office said. A spokesman said: "The Foreign Secretary will be returning to the UK earlier than previously planned, leaving Australia immediately after the high-level UK/Australia talks on defence, security and foreign policy issues.'' Earlier, the al-Qaeda-linked kidnappers claimed the army air and ground assault on the In Amenas complex had left 34 hostages dead. "The operation is ongoing," said Algeria's Communication Minister Mohamed Said, speaking on national television. "Several people" were killed or wounded, he added, saying an "important number" of hostages were also freed. Islamists raided the site on Wednesday in an attack that left two dead, in retaliation for a French offensive against Islamists in neighbouring Mali, demanding a halt to hostilities across the border. In Amenas

(Frame content direct link: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=In Amenas, Algeria&hl=en&ll=32.287133,6.899414&spn=15.607967,47.592773&sll=30.202114,9.624023&sspn=18.141805,23.796387&t=h&hnear=In Amenas, Illizi, Algeria&z=5&iwloc=near&output=embed.)

. Algerian media reports said nearly 600 Algerian workers and four foreigners - two from Britain, one from France and one from Kenya - were freed during the rescue operation. A total of 41 foreigners had been reported among the hostages. "We are deeply concerned about any loss of innocent life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria,'' White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said US counterterrorism officials were in touch with their Algerian counterparts and that she planned to speak with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal today. The Irish government also said one of its citizens was freed, but Norway said it had no news of nine of its nationals. Japan's vice foreign minister Minoru Kiuchi, who is now in Algeria, urged the government to "stop the operation immediately" in a meeting with his local counterpart, the government's chief spokesman Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo. Cameron's spokesman said he would have preferred to have been told beforehand about the "very grave and serious" military operation. This video grab shows former al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emir Mokhtar Belmokhtar speaking at an undisclosed location. Picture: AFP . French President Francois Hollande said he was receiving regular updates on the "dramatic" situation, while Washington was seeking "clarity" about the reports of deaths in the raid. "We are certainly concerned about reports of loss of life. And are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. The kidnappers told Mauritanian news agency ANI they would "kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces succeed in entering the complex". The Islamists claimed the army air strike had killed 34 hostages and 15 Islamists. A foreign diplomat in Algiers confirmed that the rescue mission "did not go too well for the hostages". Fifteen foreigners and 30 Algerian hostages earlier managed to escape from the plant, jointly operated by British oil giant BP, Norway's Statoil and state-run Algerian energy firm Sonatrach, Algerian media reported. No Australians in Algeria attack - Smith Defence Minister Stephen Smith believes no Australians have been caught up in a terrorist attack in Algeria. Veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a one-eyed Algerian jihadist with al-Qaeda ties, has claimed responsibility for launching the attack. Belmokhtar, dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" for his illicit cigarette smuggling, was until recently one of the leaders of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). But he was pushed out of the organisation towards the end of last year and set up a group called "Signatories in Blood". He has been blamed for previous abductions and the killings of both Algerians and foreigners. The chief hostage taker on the ground, Abu al-Baraa, was reported killed in the Algerian operation by ANI, which often carries reliable reports from al-Qaeda-linked groups. "We demand the Algerian army pull out from the area to allow negotiations," Abu al-Baraa earlier told Al-Jazeera news channel. But Algeria has insisted it will not negotiate with "terrorists". ================ Japan's JGC says contacted three of its Japanese workers in Algeria Thu, Jan 17 18:36 PM EST TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp said on Friday that it had been able to contact three of its Japanese workers in Algeria, but that it was unable to reach 14 other Japanese employees. No other details were immediately available. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters that the government was still checking on the situation. (Reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher) ================ Hostage's family says Algerian army attacked hostage jeeps Thu, Jan 17 18:42 PM EST By Eamonn Mallie BELFAST (Reuters) - A hostage who escaped unharmed from Islamist militants in Algeria on Thursday said the Algerian army bombed four jeeps carrying fellow captives and probably killed many of them, his brother told Reuters. Irishman Stephen McFaul, who was among dozens of Western and local captives seized by militants at an Algerian natural gas plant on Wednesday, told his family that he survived because he was on the only one of five jeeps not hit by Algerian bombs, according to his brother Brian. "They were moving five jeep-loads of hostages from one part of the compound. At that stage they were intercepted by the Algerian army. The army bombed four out of five of the trucks and four of them were destroyed," Brian McFaul said. "The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom," he said. "He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed." Brian McFaul said he did not speak to Stephen directly, but got an account from Stephen's wife Angela after she spoke to him. The hostages had their mouths taped and explosives hung from around their necks, McFaul added. Thirty hostages and at least 11 Islamist militants were killed on Thursday when Algerian forces stormed the desert gas plant in a bid to free many dozens of captives, an Algerian security source said. Western governments were unhappy at having been kept in the dark by Algeria before the raid and its bloody result. 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, along with perhaps dozens more who escaped, were unclear. (Writing by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Heinrich) ==================== Thirty hostages reported killed in Algeria assault Thu, Jan 17 18:42 PM EST 1 of 13 By Lamine Chikhi ALGIERS (Reuters) - 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. Americans, Norwegians, Romanians and an Austrian have also been mentioned by their governments as having been captured. Underlining the view of African and Western leaders that they face a multinational, al Qaeda-linked insurgency across the Sahara - a conflict that prompted France to send troops to neighboring Mali last week - the official source said only two of the 11 dead militants were Algerian, including their leader. After an operation that appeared to go on for some eight hours, after Algeria refused the kidnappers' demand to leave the country with their hostages, the bodies of three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman were found. So too was that of Taher Ben Cheneb, an Algerian whom the security official described as a prominent jihadist commander in the Sahara. The gunmen who seized the important gas facility deep in the desert before dawn on Wednesday had been demanding France halt its week-old offensive against Islamist rebels in Mali. French President Francois Hollande said the hostage drama, which has raised fears of further militant attacks, showed that he was right to send more than 1,000 French troops to Mali to back up a West African force in support of Mali's government. A Algerian government spokesman, who confirmed only that an unspecified number of hostages had died, said the tough response to a "diehard" attitude by the militants showed that, as during its bloody civil war against Islamists in the 1990s, Algiers would not negotiate or stand for "blackmail" from "terrorists". SECURITY IN QUESTION The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions, however, over the reliability of what was thought to be strong security. Foreign companies said they were pulling non-essential staff out of the country, which has only in recent years begun to seem stable after a decade of blood-letting. "The embarrassment for the government is great," said Azzedine Layachi, an Algerian political scientist at New York's St John's University. "The heart of Algeria's economy is in the south. where the oil and gas fields are. For this group to have attacked there, in spite of tremendous security, is remarkable." Algiers, whose leaders have long had frosty relations with the former colonial power France and other Western countries, may also have some explaining to do over its tactics in putting an end to a hostage crisis whose scale was comparable to few in recent decades bar those involving Chechen militants in Russia. Communication Minister Mohamed Said sounded unapologetic, however. "When the terrorist group insisted on leaving the facility, taking the foreign hostages with them to neighboring states, the order was issued to special units to attack the position where the terrorists were entrenched," he told state news agency APS, which said some 600 local workers were freed. A local source told Reuters six foreign hostages had been killed along with eight of their captors when troops fired on a vehicle being used by the gunmen at the Tigantourine plant. The standoff began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the facility early on Wednesday morning. They said they were holding 41 foreigners. In a rare eyewitness account of Wednesday's raid, a local man who had escaped from the facility told Reuters the militants appeared to have inside knowledge of the layout of the complex and used the language of radical Islam. "The terrorists told us at the very start that they would not hurt Muslims but were only interested in the Christians and infidels," Abdelkader, 53, said by telephone from his home in the nearby town of In Amenas. "'We will kill them,' they said." Mauritanian agency ANI and Qatar-based Al Jazeera said earlier that 34 captives and 15 militants had been killed when government forces fired at a vehicle from helicopters. BAD NEWS EXPECTED British Prime Minister David Cameron said people should prepare for bad news about the hostages. He earlier called his Algerian counterpart to express his concern at what he called a "very grave and serious" situation, his spokesman said. "The Algerians are aware that we would have preferred to have been consulted in advance," the spokesman added. Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said he had been told by his Algerian counterpart that the action had started at around noon. He said they had tried to find a solution through the night, but that it had not worked. "The Algerian prime minister said they felt they had no choice but to go in now," he said. The incident dramatically raises the stakes in the French military campaign in neighboring Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against Islamist rebels after air strikes began last week. "What is happening in Algeria justifies all the more the decision I made in the name of France to intervene in Mali in line with the U.N. charter," Hollande said, adding that things seemed to have taken a "dramatic" turn. He said earlier that an unspecified number of French nationals were among the hostages. A French national was also among the hostage takers, a local source told Reuters. A large number of people from the former French colony live in France. Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were loyal to Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who fought in Afghanistan and set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al Qaeda leaders. A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear. Britain said one of its citizens was killed in the initial storming on Wednesday and "a number" of others were held. The militants had said seven Americans were among their hostages. The White House said it believed Americans were among those held but U.S. officials could not confirm the number. "This is an ongoing situation and we are seeking clarity," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. FOREIGN FIRMS Norway's Statoil, which runs the plant with BP of Britain and Algeria's state energy company, said it had no word on nine of its Norwegian staff who had been held, but that three Algerian employees were now free. BP said some of its staff were being held but would not say how many or their nationalities. Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corp. were held, a number the company did not confirm. The Irish government said one Irish hostage was freed. Hollande has received public backing from Western and African allies who fear that al Qaeda, flush with men and arms from the defeated forces of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is building a desert haven in Mali, a poor country helpless to combat fighters who seized its northern oasis towns last year. However, there is also some concern in Washington and other capitals that the French action in Mali could provoke a backlash worse than the initial threat by militants in the remote Sahara. The militants, communicating through established contacts with media in neighboring Mauritania, said on Wednesday they had dozens of men armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles in the compound and had rigged it with explosives. They condemned Algeria's secularist government for letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali and shutting its border to Malian refugees. The attack in Algeria did not stop France from pressing on with its campaign in Mali. It said on Thursday it now had 1,400 troops on the ground there, and combat was under way against the rebels that it first began targeting from the air last week. The French action last week came as a surprise but received widespread public international support. Neighboring African countries planning to provide ground troops for a U.N. force by September have said they will move faster to deploy them. Nigeria, the strongest regional power, sent 162 soldiers on Thursday, the first of an anticipated 906. A day after launching the campaign in Mali, Hollande also ordered a commando raid in Somalia on Saturday, which failed to free a French hostage held by al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab militants since 2009. Al Shabaab said on Thursday it had executed the hostage, Denis Allex. France said it believed he had died in the raid. (Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Writing by Peter Graff, Giles Elgood, Philippa Fletcher and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Kevin Liffey) ================ With no end-game in sight U.S. moves cautiously on Mali Thu, Jan 17 17:59 PM EST By Andrew Quinn WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is responding cautiously to Mali's widening civil war, hoping to limit U.S. exposure even as French troops go on the offensive against Islamist rebels in the African country and U.S. citizens are caught up in a hostage crisis unfolding in neighboring Algeria. The escalation of fighting in northern Mali, where West African troops are joining French soldiers battling al Qaeda-inspired rebels, has emerged as the first foreign policy flashpoint facing U.S. President Barack Obama as he begins his second term next week. True to form, the Obama administration's approach has been measured and wary, promising U.S. logistical assistance but ruling out direct U.S. military involvement in an unpredictable conflict. "What we are seeing in Mali, in Algeria, reflects the broader strategic challenge, first and foremost for the countries in North Africa and for the United States and the broader international community," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday. "Instability in Mali has created the opportunity for a staging base and safe haven for terrorists." Despite those concerns, however, analysts say the cautious U.S. approach demonstrates that Washington sees few immediate security implications for the United States itself and big risks in a French-led military action without accompanying political progress on the ground. A U.S. official on Thursday said the United States has agreed to a French request for airlift capacity to help France move its troops and equipment to Mali - a relatively modest expansion of U.S. assistance. "I think the administration is going to be very wary of getting involved in any direct military operations. That will be an absolute last resort," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. "It doesn't want the political aspect of this -- which is vital -- to get lost." The United States has said it stands behind France's decision last week to launch air strikes and send ground troops to its former colony, where Islamist rebels were pressing southwards after seizing the north of the country following a military coup in March. But the French move leap-frogged U.S.-backed proposals to concentrate on returning a legitimate government to the capital Bamako, which Washington had long insisted was an essential first step toward restoring order to the country. "You'd have to ask the French what their exit plan is," said one senior State Department official. WORSENING CONFLICT France argued that intervention was essential to prevent a worsening of Mali's conflict, which has displaced an estimated 30,000 people as fighters from groups including al Qaeda's North Africa branch, Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and the local Tuareg Islamist group Ansar Dine seized Timbuktu and other towns. They imposed a harsh version of Islamic law, including public amputations and beheadings. But the United States, already accelerating plans to pull troops out of Afghanistan and fending off pressure for more robust action on Syria, shows little appetite for stepping into a more direct role in Mali. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and other U.S. officials say the United States already has boosted intelligence sharing with France. Other potential areas of U.S. support could include refueling and surveillance including drones, although these are already in high demand in Afghanistan as well as other parts of Africa. "If we move one to Mali, for example, we take it from somewhere else, where it is also needed," a U.S. defense official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity. But with U.S. law barring direct support to governments produced by coups such as the fragile interim administration in Bamako, the United States is concentrating on the ECOWAS group of West African nations which on Thursday sent its first deployment of troops into the conflict. "We do best if we are in a strong supporting and sustaining role, and not in a role in which we are taking the lead," the senior State Department official told reporters on Wednesday. "This is primarily an African problem." The United States has offered training and non-lethal supplies, ranging from boots and medical kits to maps, to the African forces. It also stands ready to help transport them into Mali, although U.S. officials say this could be done through paying for third countries to airlift the troops rather than using U.S. military personnel or equipment. HOSTAGE FEARS Western fears that the al Qaeda-linked insurgents are expanding operations across Northern Africa were underscored on Wednesday when Islamist militants attacked a gas field in neighboring Algeria, taking dozens of foreigners hostage, including some Americans. While the attack illustrated that U.S. interests remain exposed across an unstable region, few analysts expect it to force a change in Washington's overall approach. Republican U.S. Representative Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the parallel crises in Mali and Algeria, like the deadly September 11 attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, showed the need for a broad and sustained push to bolster unraveling security in the region. "You can't just handle Mali. You can't just handle the Tuareg. You can't just handle Benghazi. You have to have an overarching plan that puts pressure on these groups from all of it," Rogers told CNN on Wednesday. "And you can't just fire a few missiles and pack up and go home and hope for the best. It's not going to work." Some analysts expect the United States will continue to try to buy time, giving notional support to France while at the same time pressing for a more durable political solution for Mali. "Fundamentally we have to face the reality that what we have here is an insurgency, and we have to fight a counterinsurgency," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. "You cannot fight a counterinsurgency unless you have a legitimate government to rally around, and that is what we do not have in Mali right now." (Additional reporting by Phil Stewart. Editing by Warren Strobel and Doina Chiacu) ===============