Foreigners abducted by militants in Algeria

Algerian security officials say two people have been killed and several foreigners abducted in an attack on a gas facility near In Amenas in the east of the country.

Militants have said they carried out the attack,according to BBC.

They claim to have seized six people. Their nationalities are unclear.

The oil giant BP says a gas field it runs in partnership with Norwegians and Algerians was attacked.

Six people, including two foreigners, are reported to have been injured in the raid.

The UK foreign office said it could confirm that British nationals had been “caught up in a terrorist incident” and that the British embassy in Algiers was liaising with the local authorities. It did not say how many people were affected.

The Irish Foreign Minister, Eamon Gilmore, said one of its nationals had been abducted, adding that his government was “ready to use all the resources available to us to ensure that our citizen is released as soon as possible”.

A Japanese contractor at gas facility, JGC Corp, says Japanese staff have been seized, according to Japanese media.

The wife of a Norwegian gas worker also told a newspaper that he was among those seized.

“I received a phone call from my husband this morning and he said he had been kidnapped,” the unnamed woman was quoted as saying by the Bergens Tidende.

Early reports said five Japanese nationals and a Frenchman had been seized, but a Western diplomat told the French news agency AFP those abducted included British and Norwegian staff.

The Algerian army has begun an operation to recover the hostages.

The In Amenas gas field is a joint operation by BP, the Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, and the Norwegian state energy firm, Statoil.

The Khaled Abul Abbas Brigade said it had carried out the attack, and had travelled from northern Mali to conduct the operation.

R.S