Islamists angry over Algeria's support for the French offensive in Mali attacked a gas field in southern Algeria, killing two people and seizing hostages, including Westerners, Algeria's interior minister said Wednesday.
The Westerners, accompanied by Algerian security forces, were en route to Ain Menas Airport when they were attacked early in the morning by another group of no more than 20 people, Diho Weld Qabliyeh told Algerian state television. The security forces returned fire, and the attackers withdrew to the base of the petroleum operation, some 3 kilometers away, he said.
Upon arrival at the base, he continued, the attackers "took in a number of Westerners and Algerians -- some people told us they were nine, some people told us 12."
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Americans were among the hostages.
Accounts over the number differed.
An Algerian and a Westerner were killed in the attack, and two other Westerners, two of the security forces and two guards from the base were wounded, Qabliyeh said.
Algerian media reported that a British national was among the fatalities.
British Foreign Minister William Hague, speaking in Sydney, Australia, said the captives included "a number of British nationals."
Hague said the Foreign Office had sent a "rapid deployment team" to Algiers to beef up staffing at the embassy.
Algerian military forces were surrounding the building holding the hostage-takers and the hostages, Qabliyeh said.
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