The U.S. government is trying to determine now
whether or not the seven Americans reportedly
being held hostage by Islamic militants in Algeria are still alive.
Several
reports Thursday said that 25 hostages escaped and six were
killed when Algerian forces mounted an operation to free the hostages in the
remote desert gas plant where they were being held.
Three more hostages were
reportedly
freed by the Algerian army in a subsequent operation. A total of 41 hostages
have been held since Wednesday morning, as part of what military groups called
retaliation for the French attacks on Islamist groups in Mali that began last
weekend, according to
a
statement by one of the militant groups Al Mulathameen, which has
links to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.
At Thursday's White House press briefing, Press
Secretary
Jay Carney said there's no
definitive information on whether the Americans are among the dead or the
living.
"We are in contact with Algerian authorities and our
international partners as well as with BP's security office in London.
Unfortunately, the best information we have at this time, as I said, indicates
that U.S. citizens are among the hostages. But we don't have, at this point,
more details to provide to you. We're certainly concerned about reports of loss
of life and are seeking clarity from the government of Algeria," he said.
"But at this point you
can't say whether those Americans are alive or dead?" a reporter asked Carney.
"I just can only say
that we are deeply concerned about any loss of innocent life and are seeking
clarity from the government of Algeria," he said.
Carney declined to confirm
reports
that at least one unarmed U.S. drone was deployed to the skies above the
Algerian gas facility in support of the rescue operations there. He also
declined to confirm that the hostage takers have links to Al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) or say whether or not the Algerian government consulted
Washington before carrying out the deadly rescue mission.
"Our priority is determining the status of the Americans
involved and gaining a full understanding of what took place," he said. "We are
seeking clarity from the Algerian government about this matter, and obviously
we are focused most intently on the status of Americans."
The United States is proving intelligence support and airlift
support to the French troops operating in Mali, helping them move troops and
equipment, Carney said. The French have made several other requests for U.S.
support that the administration is still considering.
President
Barack Obama is
being regularly updated on the Algeria situation but hasn't gotten involved
personally by making any phone calls to world leaders, Carney said. AQIM does
not threaten the United States directly but does threaten U.S. interests, he
said.
"We work with our allies to counter the
activities of AQIM," said Carney. "And clearly, AQIM and affiliated extremist
groups do pose a threat to our interests in that region, even if they have not
posed a direct threat to the homeland like al Qaeda central in Afghanistan and
Pakistan or al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula."Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton spoke with Algerian
Prime Minister
Abdelmalek Sellal
Wednesday and is expected to speak with him again today.
"The phone call was, as you can
imagine, a hundred percent about this situation, about our willingness to be
helpful about what might be needed, about the desire to keep lines of
communication open," State Department Spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said today.
United States
