Algeria hostage crisis: Three Britons killed and three more feared dead, says David Cameron

The Prime Minister said that a UK resident had also been killed in the four day stand-off in the desert


In Amenas gas field Getty
Three British nationals have died and three more are feared dead following the Algerian hostage crisis, David Cameron said today.

The Prime Minister said that a UK resident had also been killed in the four day stand-off in the desert which dramatically came to an end yesterday.

Speaking at Chequers, he said that the priority now was to get the surviving hostages home from Algeria.

"I know the whole country will want to join with me in sending our sympathy and our condolences to the families who have undergone an absolutely dreadful ordeal," he said.

The Foreign Office said that the figures announced by the Prime Minister included the Briton killed on Wednesday in the initial raid by Islamist militants.

Mr Cameron said the attack was a "stark reminder" of the continuing terrorist threat and vowed to use Britain's chairmanship of the G8 to ensure that it was right at the top of the international agenda.

"This is a global threat and it will require a global response. It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months," he said.

"It requires a response that is patient and painstaking, that is tough but also intelligent, but above all has an absolutely iron resolve and that is what we will deliver over these coming years."

Despite the high death toll - with 23 hostages and 32 terrorists known to have died - the Prime Minister refused to criticise the uncompromising stance taken by the Algerian government.

"The responsibility for these deaths lies squarely with the terrorists who launched these vicious and cowardly attacks," he said.

"When you are dealing with a terrorist incident on this scale with up to 30 terrorists it is extremely difficult to respond and get this right in every respect."

Mr Cameron added: "We should recognise all that the Algerians have done to work with us and to help and co-ordinate with us, and I would like to thank them for that.

"We should also recognise that the Algerians too have seen lives lost amongst their soldiers. I think it is very important to make that point."

He said that there were clear similarities with the terrorist threat from Afghanistan and Pakistan, even though it was on a different scale.

"What we face is an extremist, Islamist, al Qaida-linked terrorist group. Just as we had to deal with that in Pakistan and in Afghanistan so the world needs to come together to deal with this threat in north Africa," he said.

"It is linked to al Qaida, it wants to destroy our way of life, it believes in killing as many people as it can. We need to work with others to defeat the terrorists and to close down the ungoverned spaces where they thrive with all the means that we have."

President Barack Obama said the US was ready to provide whatever assistance was needed in the wake of the attack.

"This attack is another reminder of the threat posed by al Qaida and other violent extremist groups in north Africa," he said in a statement.

"In the coming days, we will remain in close touch with the government of Algeria to gain a fuller understanding of what took place so that we can work together to prevent tragedies like this in the future."

The Algerian authorities were working to dismantle explosives left by the terrorists who booby-trapped the sprawling BP gas plant at In Amenas before the final shoot-out with Algerian special forces.

In the face of the high death toll, the interior ministry said last night that troops had no choice but to intervene.

"To avoid a bloody turn of events in response to the extreme danger of the situation, the army's special forces launched an intervention with efficiency and professionalism to neutralise the terrorist groups that were first trying to flee with the hostages and then blow up the gas facilities," it said in a statement.

Troops later recovered a terrorist arsenal of six machine guns, 21 rifles, two shotguns, two 60mm mortars with shells, six 60mm missiles with launchers, two rocket-propelled grenades with eight rockets and 10 grenades in explosive belts.

The British ambassador to Algiers, Martyn Roper, was today returning to In Amenas to help organise the return of the UK survivors, having finally been granted permission to fly to the region yesterday.

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that there were 22 British nationals who had survived the attack and were now back in the UK.

"We brought them back and BP brought others back on chartered flights during the night so they are being reunited with their loved ones," he told BBC1's The Andrew Marr Show

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/algeria-hostage-crisis-three-britons-1546587