Algeria: Two Killed and 41 Foreigners Kidnapped Algerian Gas Field Attack

[Purveyor]

Armed militants with suspected links to Al-Qaeda have killed two people, wounded six others and abducted 41 foreigners in an attack on a gas field run by the oil giant BP in central Algeria.

Algerian state media said one of those killed was a British national, but this has not been confirmed by the British Foreign Office.

Two policemen and four workers, including two foreigners, were among those wounded in the attack on the In Amenas gas field near the border with Libya.

A spokesperson for the attackers says 41 people have been taken hostage, including seven Americans and expatriates from France, Britain and Japan.

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http://allafrica.com/stories/201301161366.html

[Purveyor]

1. 13 JANUARY 2013: Algeria Authorises France To Use Airspace For Mali Raids

AFP - Algeria has authorised French warplanes to use its airspace for bombing raids in neighbouring Mali, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Sunday.

Fabius was speaking after French Rafale fighter jets bombed Islamist bases near Gao in northern Mali from their base in France.

http://www.france24.com/en/20130113-algeria-authorises-france-use-airspace-mali-raids

[tblue]

2. Two thoughts

Of course this is TERRIBLE and TERRIFYING! But I'm thinking:

1) Corporate empires exploiting and abusing people and profiting from local resources, ya know, pisses people off.

2) Watch this used as an excuse to raise gas prices here.

[Recursion]

5. Algerian oil was nationalized 40 years ago

This is IMO more about the Westphalian nation-state being ill-suited to the post-colonial world.

[Recursion]

3. 7 Americans among those held

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/9806305/Briton-killed-and-40-BP-workers-held-hostage-in-Algeria-attack.html

Ugh.

[Romulox]

4. OOOH! We've been spoiling for a "new front" in Africa for some time now! Mali, here we come!