Algeria has gone guns blazing into the oil field raided by Al-Qaeda militants yesterday.
Earlier several Western hostages were killed by an Algerian helicopter strike.
A British security source told CBS News"the Algerians were firing from helicopters at anything that moved."
A UK Government official told BBC that a "proactive Algerian military operation to free the hostages is under way" after Algeria reportedly turned down UK assistance by starting the operation without informing the Brits. (The U.S. also offered military assistance but the Algerian government refused, The Associated Press reports.)
British Prime Minister Cameron told Algeria's Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal that he was "extremely concerned" about the "very grave and serious situation."Japan has asked Algeria to stop operations that are "endangering hostages' lives."
A man identifying himself as a Japanese hostage told Al Jazeera that he and a Norwegian hostage had been wounded by Algerian sniper fire.
Algeria's official news agency reports that Algerian army has freed two British hostages from Scotland, a Kenyan and a French hostage. Mauritania's ANI news reports that it lost contact with the kidnappers at the start of the raid.
BBC Notes that are unconfirmed reports of casualties among the remaining captives. A French national told France24 that the hostages have been forced to wear explosive belts and that the militants are heavily armed.
A local source told Reuters six hostages and eight kidnappers were killed by the helicopter strike while Mauritania's ANI news agency and Qatar-based Al Jazeerareported that 34 of the captives and 15 of the captors had been killed.
One of the kidnappers previously told ANI that seven hostages — two Americans, three Belgians, one Japanese and one British citizen — remained at the facility after the strike.
An employee at the oil field told CBS that four foreigners escaped while Reutersreported that 25 foreign hostages escaped. A spokesman for the Irish foreign ministry told Reuters that an Irishman who was kidnapped is now safe.
Other reports indicate that as many as 600 Algerian workers had escaped, though they were being held under much less restrictive conditions. The number reportedly held yesterday was 150.
The U.S. is largely in the dark despite sending a quick response force to the area last night. A senior U.S. official told Martha Raddatz of The Atlantic around 9 a.m. that they're "trying to get clarity but just don't know anything for sure."
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin reports that a U.S. drone has arrived over the Algerian gas plant,"giving the US its first look at what is happening."
The hostage situation began on Wednesday when at least 20 jihadists raided the In Amenas oil field 60 miles away from the Algeria-Libya border,killing two foreigners and kidnapping at least 20 foreigners from countries including the U.S., UK, France, Japan and Norway.
More to come as information becomes available.
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