An Cosantóir

www.military.ie the defence forces magazine | 21 forces were securing the perimeter of the plant, having identified the insurgents as members of al-Murabitoun, a group under the command of Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Dubbed 'The Uncatchable' by French Intelligence, Belmokhtar is a former commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) who established his own group after apparently falling out with AQIM's senior command, although still claiming loyalty to the main al- Qaeda organisation. The group's demands include an end to French military operations against Islamists in northern Mali and the release of prisoners held in American and Algerian prisons. Algeria's minister of the interior, Dahou Ould Kablia, stated that the government would not respond to the demands of terrorists and would not negotiate with the hostage takers. Intelligence gathered indicated that there were two types of hostage, those that were in the assailants' hands and those that had managed to evade capture but were still trapped in the compound. This information was gleaned through a number of phone calls and text messages sent to their families by those in hiding. Realising that the insur- gents were monitoring the media the authorities reported as little as possible on the situation. At 14.00hrs the Algerian Special Intervention Group launched an assault on the plant. Helicopter gunships strafed a convoy of militant vehicles as they transported hostages within the compound and four of their five vehi- cles were destroyed. The insurgents then used the hostages as human shields as they attempted to move closer to the main processing plant. As the attack was taking place, a number of those in hiding decided to try and make a break for it. They located wire-cutters and made their way to the perimeter fence where they cut through the wire and fled into the desert. They were found hours later by Algerian forces, wandering through the desert. In the early hours of Friday morning, Algerian forces advanced into the compound and surrounded the core facil- ity where the insurgents were still holding at least seven hostages. On Saturday morning the area was stormed and the sound of gunfire again echoed throughout the facility. In the final assault, 11 militants and seven hostages were killed before the four-day ordeal ended. An Algerian government spokesperson stated that 11 hostages were killed after the army launched its offensive and that seven people had been executed. Of the attackers, 29 had been killed and three captured. In total, 38 civilians and 29 militants had been killed during the course of the four-day siege and 700 Algerians and 100 foreign workers had been rescued. An investigation into the attack on the plant has raised a number of questions. Though there was a gendarmerie nearby, the plant's guards were unarmed. Foreign workers had raised this with their employers before the attack but no action had been taken. The nationalities of the terrorists also raised concern for governments around the world. The Algerian prime minister stated that of the 32 insurgents, one-third were Algerian, while the rest were made up of nationalities that included Tunisians, Canadians, Egyptians, Malians, Nigeri- ans and Mauritanians. The escalating number of foreign fighters joining the ranks of insurgent groups is increasing the possibility of terrorist attacks in countries throughout the world. Intelligence agencies are monitoring the situ- ation and attempting to keep track of radicals in order to and prevent them from planning and executing attacks on so-called 'soft targets'. While the Algerian army are known for their 'zero toler- ance' against insurgents, perhaps the biggest question is why did the Algerian army launch an assault instead of negotiating the safe release of the hostages? A number of countries objected to Algeria's heavy-handed approach to the crisis, believing that many more of the hostages could have been saved through negotiation. Japan, the country that suffered the highest number of casualties, criticized Algeria for 'failing to put human lives first and refrain from any assault on the plant'. As the world attempts to pick through the pieces of this tragic episode, the families and friends of those that died are trying to understand how and why their loved ones, who were simply going to work, perished in such a cataclys- mic incident.

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