Algeria Warns of Higher Toll from Hostage Crisis

Algeria warned on Monday of higher body count after a four-day siege of a gas plant by al-Qaeda-linked groups ended in a bloodbath.

Algeria warned on Monday of higher body count after a four-day siege of a gas plant by al-Qaeda-linked groups ended in a bloodbath. Algerian Gas Plant

"I fear that it (the death toll) may be revised upward," Algerian Communications Minister Mohamed Said told a radio station earlier.

Governments scrambled to track down missing citizens as more details emerged after the final showdown on Saturday between special forces and extremists who had taken hundreds hostage, demanding an end to French military intervention in Mali.

The interior ministry reported Saturday that 23 foreign and Algerian hostages were killed during the siege of the In Amenas gas plant in the deep Sahara desert, which ended with Algerian forces storming the remaining part of the complex still in militant hands.

Algeria's private Ennahar television reported that 25 bodies were discovered at the plant on Sunday, while French daily El-Watan gave a toll of 30 hostages found dead at the site the same day.

Survivors' photos showed bodies riddled with bullets, some with their heads half blown away by the impact of the gunfire.
"They were brutally executed," said an Algerian who identified himself as Brahim, after escaping the ordeal, referring to Japanese victims gunned down by the hostage-takers.

A Japanese delegation led by the deputy foreign minister arrived at the In Amenas hospital on Monday to arrange the repatriation of the bodies of the Japanese victims, an AFP journalist reported.
The Philippine government said on Monday that six Filipino hostages were among the dead, killed "mostly by gunshot wounds and the effects of the explosions."

Ennahar reported on Monday that two of the slain hostage-takers were Canadian nationals. It also reported that five militants were captured alive at the plant on Sunday.

The Algerian interior ministry had said on Saturday that 32 kidnappers were killed in the standoff and the army freed 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners.