Norway after fate of citizens in Algeria gas field: PM

Norway says it has no information about its nine citizens working at a gas field in Algeria’s In Amenas where dozens of hostages were killed.

Norway’s Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday, “We are still lacking reliable information concerning nine people.”

Twelve employees of Norwegian oil group Statoil, which operates the gas field with British oil giant BP and Algeria’s state-run energy company Sonatrach, were reportedly involved in the hostage taking.

The Norwegian prime minister said the information coming out of Algeria is confusing and not complete.

British officials are also saying that the hostage crisis is still going on.

Meanwhile, Statoil chief Helge Lund said eight other employees including Norwegians and Algerians, who had been at or around the gas field at the time of the hostage taking, were safe. Lund added that BP and Statoil would evacuate “non-essential” staff from other sites in Algeria.

The so-called al-Qaeda-linked militants in Algeria had earlier claimed to be taking hostage 41 foreign employees of the desert gas complex at the site, but had suggested that they were ready to negotiate if the Algerian army withdrew from the area.

However, reports said on Thursday that 34 Westerners and 15 kidnappers were killed in airstrikes carried out by the Algerian army on gas facilities. Earlier in the day, local officials announced that 30 Algerians and 15 foreign nationals had managed to escape from kidnappers.

Algeria’s News Agency (APS) said at least four foreigners, including a Frenchman, two Britons, and a Kenyan, were freed and four more hostages, including two Britons and two Filipinos were killed after the army conducted raids on the gas facilities.

APS also reported that the standoff between security forces and the militants continued overnight on Thursday.

Kidnappers said their hostage taking was in reprisal for France’s intervention in the internal affairs of neighboring Mali.

On January 11, France launched a military intervention in Mali under the pretext of halting the advance of militants in the African country.