Tuareg rebellion (2012): 2012 coup Internal conflict in Azawad: Foreign intervention: 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 The In Amenas hostage crisis began on 16 January 2013, when al-Qaeda-linked terrorists affiliated with a brigade led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar took expat hostages at the Tigantourine gas facility near In Amenas, Algeria.

Around 32 Islamist terrorists in 4 to 5 vehicles, who had entered Algeria from Libya and northern Mali, attacked a bus transporting employees from a natural gas plant near the town of In Amenas in far eastern Algeria, about 60 kilometres (37 mi) west of the border with Libya, killing a number of the employees.

[9][15][16] The terrorists rigged the plant with explosives, and threatened a "tragic end" should attempts be made to free the captives.

[17][18] As the assault began on a bus carrying expats, a guard named Mohamed Lamine Lahmar succeeded in activating a plant-wide alarm, warning the whole site that a terrorist attack was in progress.

[22] At midday local time on 17 January the terrorists at Base de Vie decided to drive to meet those in the CPF.

An al-Qaeda-affiliated group, known variously as both Katibat al-Mulathameen ('The Masked Brigade') and al-Muwaqqi‘ūn bi-d-Dimā' (Arabic: الموقعون بالدماء 'Those who Sign with Blood'), perpetrated the attack.

[7] Despite the split, his fighters remain loyal to al-Qaeda, a fact mentioned in their communication with the media after the initial assault.

Medlej was raised Muslim; Katsiroubas, a Greek-Canadian, and Yoon, a Korean-Canadian, converted to Islam from Greek Orthodox and Catholic, respectively, during their high school years.

In December 2011, in Mauritania, Yoon was arrested, charged, and convicted of terrorism, and sentenced to 18 months in prison, more than a year before Medlej and Katsiroubas staged the attack in Algeria.

Yoon's family was unaware of his detention until more than a month after the hostage crisis, believing he was still studying Islam and the Arabic language.

[26] Yoon was released from prison in July 2013, and subsequently arrived at Toronto's Pearson International Airport; the Canadian authorities are not expected to lay any charges against him.

On 19 January, Algerian state media announced that 11 of the hostage-takers were killed after a military offensive which ended the siege.

[33][34] The terrorists demanded an end to French military operations against Islamists in northern Mali, in return for the safety of the hostages.

[35][36] Another report mentioned a demand for the release of Aafia Siddiqui and Omar Abdel-Rahman, both held in American prisons on terrorism-related convictions.

[3] According to the eyewitness accounts at the London Inquest the terrorists were only interested in expats and did not tie up any Algerian Nationals.

[7] The number included 13 Norwegians (4 of whom escaped to a nearby military camp),[39] 7 U.S. citizens, 5 Japanese, 1 Irish, as well as nationals from France, Romania, and the United Kingdom.

France 24 broadcast parts of a phone conversation with a French hostage, who said he was being held along with British, Japanese, Filipino, and Malaysian nationals.

Algeria's private Ennahar TV channel cited 15 foreign hostages, including 2 Japanese, a French couple and the sole Irish national, as having escaped or been freed.

Earlier, the Algeria Press Service news agency reported that some 30 Algerian workers managed to free themselves.

[3] The nationality breakdown of the dead hostages, as of 25 January 2013[update], was as follows:[45] Cesar Laluan Jon Jon Falogm Julius Madrid of Laguna; Silvino Imanil[54] Raffy Edubane[55] Iluminado Santiago[55] Minister of Interior Dahou Ould Kablia said the Algerian government would not "respond to the demands of terrorists", and would not negotiate with the hostage takers.

[15] On the afternoon of 17 January 2013, the Algerian Special Intervention Group began an assault on the complex using helicopter gunships and heavy weapons.

[77] Hostages who escaped from the convoy of 6 vehicles which left the Base de Vie heading for the Central Processing plant do not accept the Algerian Government's account.

[81] Analysts say Algeria's lack of consultation fit in with a general pattern of acting independently, its policy of no negotiation with terrorists, and, according to Anouar Boukhars of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, that "Algerians are jealous of their sovereignty".

[82] Algeria's prime minister Abdelmalek Sellal in a press conference on 21 January praised the decision by Algerian special forces to storm the site, adding that the aim of the kidnappers was to "blow up the gas plant".

[9] The United Kingdom, Norway, the Philippines, France and Japan each have different methods of dealing with the overseas death of their subjects.

A verdict of unlawful killing was reached for each victim[100] BP are being sued in the US and in the UK for failing to protect their staff properly.