Hostage crisis exposes heightened security risks in Algeria

The four-day hostage crisis in Algeria was brought to an end on 19 January as the Algerian military launched an assault on the Islamist fighters remaining in the area that left at least 32 fighters and 23 hostages dead.

Algerian Special Forces launched the final assault on the In Amenas gas facility after intelligence was received suggesting the Islamist fighters intended to blow up the complex using mines and then kill their captives, according to government officials. Algerian bomb squads deployed once the assault had ended found a further 25 bodies, which Algerian media said were believed to belong to hostages executed by the fighters, although this could not be verified. The attack on the facility, which is jointly operated by BP, Statoil, and Sonatrach, was launched in the early hours of 16 January, just five days after French forces began a military intervention in neighbouring Mali. While the militants claimed the French intervention had prompted their actions, the attack - which crossed hundreds of kilometres of desert terrain without detection, and involved detailed knowledge of the facility - is likely to have been planned well in advance.