Fears escalate for Algeria Britons (From Hillingdon Times)

Fears escalate for Algeria Britons

3:04am Sunday 20th January 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013

David Cameron has said he "fears the worst" for five British nationals and a UK resident believed dead or missing as the Algeria hostage crisis reached a bloody and violent climax.

On Saturday, Algerian special forces mounted a "final assault" on the last Islamist militants holding out at the remote BP gas plant at In Amenas, bringing to an end the four-day stand-off in the desert.

The Algerian interior ministry said that since the crisis began on Wednesday, 23 hostages and all 32 terrorists had died, while 107 foreign workers and 685 local employees had been released.

The Algerian authorities were working to dismantle explosives left by the terrorists who booby-trapped the sprawling plant before the final shoot-out.

In the face the 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.

Earlier, the state news agency APS reported had that the militants had killed seven of the hostages they were still holding before they were killed by the special forces.

Mr Cameron said that Algerian prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal had confirmed to him that the terrorist incident was "effectively ended". "I know that the whole country shares my sympathy and concern for everyone who has been caught up in this incident, and for their friends and families," the Prime Minister said in a statement.

"It is our priority now to get people home as quickly as possible and to look after the survivors. Many are already home or on their way back. Let me be clear. There is no justification for taking innocent life in this way. Our determination is stronger than ever to work with allies right around the world to root out and defeat this terrorist scourge and those who encourage it."

Foreign Secretary William Hague said that on the basis of the available information they believed five British nationals and a UK resident were either "deceased or unaccounted for" - in addition to the Briton killed on the opening day of the terrorist attack. "We are working hard to get definitive information about each individual," adding that a plane was on stand-by to bring home survivors.