Recaptured by moonlight, the fabled desert city where Islamists burned books in a bitter farewell

Recaptured by moonlight, the fabled desert city where Islamists burned books in a bitter farewell


DANIEL HOWDEN


TIMBUKTU





e recapture of Timbuktu was done by moonlight. More than 250 French troops parachuted down to the northern entrance of the fabled desert city, while an armoured column sealed the southern exit.


After close to a year of occupation by Islamists, which has driven more than half the population from Mali's cultural heart and left an unknown toll on its famous libraries and shrines, the ordeal was over.

"Not a shot was fired," said a French Colonel who declined to give his name, but confirmed he had led the 12-day operation to retake the city.

By this afternoon the city's maze of dusty streets were being patrolled by French and Malian troops for remaining militants and crowds had gathered at every corner chanting: "Vive la France, vive le Mali!"

Women and children mobbed two pick-up trucks of Malian soldiers that arrived after the French force had sealed the city. One man was dressed from head to foot in a costume that he had fashioned from hand-stitched Tricolore flags. Many of the women were dressed in vivid colours and had removed their veils to replace them with flags.

Mohamed Ibrahim Traore, a shopkeeper whose store has been closed for months said the women were happy "because they don't have to put on the veils on their face". "Today we got our liberty back," he said. "Every Malian deserves their liberty, the Frency army and the Malian army have given us this."

The French and Malian forces could now be joined by a "sizeable amount" of British troops. David Cameron yesterday despatched Sir Kim Darroch, his national security adviser, to Paris to discuss what help Britain could provide.

Meanwhile, Foreign Office officials last night warned of a "potential threat" by Islamists against the British Embassy in the Libyan capital of Tripoli.

For some the liberation came too late. The Mayor of Timbuktu, Ousmane Halle Cisse – who has been forced into exile in the capital Bamako – said that one young man was executed for celebrating the recent advances by the French. Mr Cisse, who has led appeals for an international intervention to save his city from the Islamic extremists, was expected to return home last night by helicopter and said that during the final week of the Islamists' occupation more of the city's historic manuscripts had been burned in an apparently bitter parting gesture. The famous trading city and Islamic centre of learning has suffered under the Islamic fundamentalists with several shrines destroyed while it was under their control.

In the warren of sand-blown streets signs of the extremists' occupation remained. Public information boards advertising safe-sex practices had been literally defaced – the portraits of people scratched down to the bare metal. Mobile phone posters had been given the same treatment as graven images were eradicated. At the premises of a nearby bank, the BMS, a forbidding sign had been cemented into the wall in the black of al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim). For the last nine months this was the headquarters of the Islamic police who have imposed a fundamentalist form of sharia law, forbidding all dance and music.

Women have been forced to observe a strict dress code, while those accused of petty crimes like theft have had their hands cut off. Locals said that many of the amputations had been carried out in the now-deserted building. The bulk of the Islamists left over the weekend with residents saying they had fled "into the desert". With many houses deserted and the tourist hotels long shuttered, some people took the chance to loot the empty buildings. One man ran out of the doorway of a home carrying a mattress on his head.

Speaking from his temporary headquarters at the nearby airport, French Colonel Paul Gèze said: "We have secured the town but we fear that some elements of the Islamist factions could still be here hiding amid the population." The potholed Tarmac has been patched up with sand but transport flights carrying emergency food were still landing 80 kilometres away across the sand and marshland in Gundam. The eventually peaceful liberation of Timbuktu was preceded by 12 days – and six nights – of operations which the commanding officer from the 5th Combat Regiment of South-west France said had been as "hard as Libya", given the technical demands.

"I don't think many armies in the world can do what we've done in 10 days," said the Colonel, speaking in the back of a combat helicopter flying only 10 metres over the desert trails and marshes below. At sunset last night inside the gates of the city small celebrations were erupting and home-made bunting with French and Malian flags had been draped over many doorways.

A crowd had gathered at the house of singer Akia Coulibaly. Dressed in a turquoise wrap she stopped her street show briefly to recount how life has been since last April when Timbuktu fell into the hands of Islamists.

"We are having a party," she shouted over the din. "We haven't danced or sung while they have been here. They cut hands, they beat people. We have been prisoners."
Timbuktu treasures: ancient manuscripts

Between the 13th and 17th centuries, Islamic scholars composed millions of manuscripts in Timbuktu. The £5m Ahmed Baba Instititute was established in 2009 to protect these documents. In recent months it has been used by rebel fighters as a sleeping quarters and they reportedly set light to the manuscripts as they left. A UN scheme to digitise them, raising the likelihood many may have been lost for ever.

The birth of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam

The birth of the Prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam

Muhammad    the Master of Prophets, was born in Bani Hashim lane in Makkah on Monday morning, the ninth of Rabi' Al-Awwal, the same year of the Elephant Event, and forty years of the reign of Kisra (Khosru Nushirwan), i.e. the twentieth or twenty-second of April, 571 A.D., according to the scholar Muhammad Sulaimân Al-Mansourpuri.

Ibn Sa'd reported that Muhammad's mother said: "When he was born, there was a light that issued out of my pudendum (genital organs) and lit the palaces of Syria." Ahmad reported on the authority of 'Arbadh Ibn Sariya something similar to this.

It was but controversially reported that significant precursors accompanied his birth: fourteen galleries of Kisra's palace cracked and rolled down, the Magians' sacred fire died down and some churches on Lake Sawa sank down and collapsed.

His mother immediately sent someone to inform his grandfather 'Abdul-Muttalib of the happy event. Happily he came to her, carried him to Al-Ka'bah, prayed to Allaah and thanked Him. 'Abdul-Muttalib called the baby Muhammad, a name not then common among the Arabs.

The first woman who suckled him after his mother was Thuyebah, the freed slave of Abu Lahab, with her son, Masrouh. She had suckled Hamzah Ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib before, and later Abu Salamah Ibn 'Abd Al-Asad Al-Makhzumi.

Babyhood:

It was the general custom of the Arabs living in towns to send their children away to bedouin wet nurses so that they might grow up in the free and healthy surroundings of the desert whereby they would develop a robust frame and acquire the pure speech and manners of the bedouins, who were noted both for purity of their language and for being free from those vices which usually develop in sedentary societies.

The Prophet  was later entrusted to Haleemah bint Abi Dhuaib from Bani Sa'd Ibn Bakr. Her husband was Al-Harith Ibn 'Abdul 'Uzza called Abi Kabshah, from the same tribe.

Muhammad  had several foster brothers and sisters, 'Abdullah Ibn Al-Harith, Aneesah bint Al-Haarith, Hudhafah or Judhamah bint Al-Haarith (known as Ash-Shayma'), and she used to nurse the Prophet  and Abu Sufyan Ibn Al-Haarith Ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet's cousin. Hamzah Ibn 'Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet's uncle, was suckled by the same two wet nurses, Thuyeba and Haleemah As-Sa'diyah, who suckled the Prophet .

Traditions relate how Haleemah and the whole of her household were favoured by successive strokes of good fortune while the baby Muhammad lived under her care. Ibn Ishaq states that Haleemah narrated that she, along with her husband and a suckling babe, set out from her village in the company of some women of her clan in quest of children to suckle. She said:

It was a year of drought and famine and we had nothing to eat. I rode on a brown she-ass. We also had with us an old she-camel. By Allaah we could not get even a drop of milk. We could not have a wink of sleep during the night for the child kept crying on account of hunger. There was not enough milk in my breast and even the she-camel had nothing to feed him. We used to constantly pray for rain and immediate relief. At length we reached Makkah looking for children to suckle. Not even a single woman amongst us accepted the Messenger of Allâh  offered to her. As soon as they were told that he was an orphan, they refused him. We had fixed our eyes on the reward that we would get from the child's father. An orphan! What are his grandfather and mother likely to do? So we spurned him because of that. Every woman who came with me got a suckling and when we were about to depart, I said to my husband: "By Allâh, I do not like to go back along with the other women without any baby. I should go to that orphan and I must take him." He said, "There is no harm in doing so and perhaps Allaah might bless us through him." So I went and took him because there was simply no other alternative left for me but to take him. When I lifted him in my arms and returned to my place I put him on my breast and to my great surprise, I found enough milk in it. He drank to his heart's content, and so did his foster brother and then both of them went to sleep although my baby had not been able to sleep the previous night. My husband then went to the she-camel to milk it and, to his astonishment, he found plenty of milk in it. He milked it and we drank to our fill, and enjoyed a sound sleep during the night. The next morning, my husband said: "By Allaah Haleemah, you must understand that you have been able to get a blessed child." And I replied: "By the grace of Allaah, I hope so."

The tradition is explicit on the point that Haleemah's return journey and her subsequent life, as long as the Prophet  stayed with her, was encircled with a halo of good fortune. The donkey that she rode when she came to Makkah was lean and almost foundered; it recovered speed much to the amazement of Haleemah's fellow travellers. By the time they reached the encampments in the country of the clan of Sa'd, they found the scales of fortune turned in their favour. The barren land sprouted forth luxuriant grass and beasts came back to them satisfied and full of milk. Muhammad stayed with Haleemah for two years until he was weaned as Haleemah said:

We then took him back to his mother requesting her earnestly to have him stay with us and benefit by the good fortune and blessings he had brought us. We persisted in our request which we substantiated by our anxiety over the child catching a certain infection peculiar to Makkah. At last, we were granted our wish and the Prophet  stayed with us until he was four or five years of age.

When, as related by Anas in Sahih Muslim, Gabriel came down and ripped his chest open and took out the heart. He then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said: "That was the part of Satan in thee." And then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a gold basin. After that the heart was joined together and restored to its place. The boys and playmates came running to his mother, i.e. his nurse, and said: "Verily, Muhammad  has been murdered." They all rushed towards him and found him all right only his face was white.

After this event, Haleemah was worried about the boy and returned him to his mother with whom he stayed until he was six.

Summarized from: The Sealed Nectar

Britons urged to leave Benghazi over 'imminent threat'

Britons urged to leave Benghazi over 'imminent threat'



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Foreign Office minister David Lidington MP: ''Don't delay, (just) leave''
Continue reading the main story
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Britons should leave the Libyan city of Benghazi immediately in response to a "specific, imminent threat" to Westerners, the Foreign Office says.

The British Embassy in Tripoli has been in contact with a "small number" of British nationals whose details it had.

The Foreign Office could not comment more on the threat's nature, but said there was new travel advice for Libya.

The Foreign Office has been advising against travel to Benghazi and most parts of Libya since September.

In its updated advice, the Foreign Office said that after the recent French military intervention in Mali, there was the possibility of retaliatory attacks against Western interests in the region.

There is also the threat of kidnapping in Libya.'Credible and serious'

A spokesman would not confirm how many Britons it had spoken to but said it was a "small number".

Foreign Office minister David Lidington told the BBC the government had received "credible, serious and specific" reports about a possible "terrorist threat".


He added: "The terrorist risk in Benghazi and other parts of this region has been there for some time before Mali and the Algeria crisis of last weekend... the safety of British citizens is our top priority."

Mr Lidington did not say whether the British government would charter flights to Benghazi to evacuate British nationals.

BBC correspondent in Libya Rana Jawad said only "tens" of nationals are registered with the British Embassy.

She said Britons would most likely be using commercial flights to leave the country from Benghazi, which has seen a "series of attacks against security officials" in the past year.

Our correspondent added that Western diplomats had told the BBC the British School in Benghazi had closed on Wednesday and may be closed for the next few weeks.

On 11 September, US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans died during an attack on the US consulate in Benghazi.

The ambassador died of smoke inhalation when he was trapped inside as the building burned, after armed men had attacked the compound.

Britain has not had a diplomatic presence in Benghazi - Libya's second largest city - since the attack.'Common ideology'

Prof George Joffe, an expert in North African affairs at Cambridge University, said there had long been an extremist element in eastern Libya which has been "unwilling to accept a democratic outcome" to the civil war in Libya.



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Hillary Clinton gave an animated defence of how the US handled the Benghazi attack on Wednesday

He said that, while the militants in Libya may share a "common ideology" with Islamic rebels in Mali and Algeria, it was not likely they shared any organisational links.

"What we are seeing is a sympathetic response to what occurred in Algeria and Mali, and therefore a threat to Westerners. I am not even certain that the threat is specific to Britain," Prof Joffe added.

Benghazi was the stronghold of the National Transitional Council, the rebel group whose revolt eventually ended Col Muammar Gaddafi's hold on power in Libya.

On Wednesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton testified in hearings on Capitol Hill, during which she was questioned about the attack on the US consulate and said al-Qaeda was on the rise in the region.

Last week, in neighbouring Algeria, militants took over a gas plant, taking hundreds hostage and claiming they were acting in revenge for events in Mali, where the French military have taken action against Islamist extremists.

It is thought 37 foreigners - including six UK nationals - died during the four-day siege, which ended after Algerian special forces stormed the compound.

A tribute to Mr. Jama Mahamoud Haid governor of Djibouti Central Bank

Ahmed Arwo

It was a night, Friday was the day, 11th of January 2013, and I was alone in my room. I switched on my laptop to update my nightly information about the home country and it´s environ. I hit Gabiley.net and my eyes caught a dreadful news item that sent an electric shock to my heart. The death of great leader, gigantic personality and dear friend, Mr. Jama Mahamoud Haid is announced. I have no one to share with this calamity but my heart and mind. I recited 11 times the Ikhlas sura and prayed Allah with Fatah to safe-guide Jama´s soul to the best of heavens.

My sincere condolence to his family, other relatives, friends, the government and the people of Djibouti, headed by the President of Djibouti HE Ismail Omer Guelleh and first lady, the sister of the deceased Mrs. Khadra Mahamoud Haid.

It is like this time, we remember how vulnerable we are, how temporary our life is and how our days are counted. Each day gone reduces our life span and each night passed is another one less. Continuously we are stepping, however slow it may seem, towards our grave. WE know not the moment we say goodbye to this world, but certainly we know we shall face that eventuality sooner or later. That is one of the few certainty shared by all humanity regardless of status, creed and colour.

Jama Mahamoud was a sagacious economist and shrewd financier. He governed Djibouti Central Bank for nearly two decades, a tenure second to none in length and quality. The economic growth, wealth creation and financial stability, Djibouti accomplished during his reign, tantamount to Jama´s success story.

With his savoir faire and dedication, Djibouti attracted huge foreign investment from Arabia and afar. In a region of turbulent economy and quivering currency, he stabilized Djibouti Franc avoiding potential inflation. With its skimpy population Djibouti´s budget reached over one billion dollar annually, a figure relatively too lofty for the countries in the region.

Socially Jama was a man of society, with leadership that knew no national frontier. His death is felt throughout the region: Djibouti, Somaliland, Somalia, Ethiopia, and Kenya. He devoted to the wellbeing of all citizens in the region, sticking together with shared conviction to get a great leap forward for regional development. He was truly passionate for regional cooperation.

Jama was a true son of two states but one nation: Djibouti and Somaliland. He spent great effort and time to maintain natural brotherhood between these two states. He never allowed any crack, tear and wear of the times to leave an open wound. This friendship is clearly manifested by the mourning of Somalilanders in every town and village. Planes started to come and go by the hour for two days, picking mourners to attend his interment.


I met men and women of all walks of life in mourning and they all agreed that Jama was a true son of both countries, a devoted Muslim and man of mercy and dignity. He was short in talk but long in deeds. He was selfless nationalist and helping hand to the needy and poor. His charity extended beyond Djibouti. It reached all Somali inhabited regions in the Horn of Africa.

Personally, it was few months ago when I phoned him asking about the Islamic Banking Conference that had been held in Djibouti. His voice was calm, calculated and precise. He gave all I need and invited me to visit Djibouti. Surprisingly he articulated in a friendly tone, that he never expected I would be out of his reach in this long since my appointment. We agreed to meet by the end of January. Alas it never happened. Truly, it is said man proposes and Allah disposes. To me his death is so painful and of great individual loss. I was looking forward to a new, refreshed cooperation between us and within our corresponding positions. I had a good working plan intact. With the minutes I spent with him over the phone, I discerned how bright, sharp and open minded Jama was, and how he ponders for the benefit of Djibouti in every minute of his time. Equally he presumed as own duty to work-out for any project that lends a hand to both countries.

I hope his successor will fill his shoes fully and at ease. I anticipate our corresponding capacities will be shoved to the profit of both our countries, and I look forward to maintain our brotherly two states closer and closer, for we are one people.

Jama did the best he can, and left a history written in gold and diamond. Generations will remember him and his deeds will be reflected in perpetuity. His good performance will go with him to the grave and stay with him or her to serve as one's testimony in the Day of Judgment. That is engraved in our Islamic religion. Do good deeds and it will be with you forever.

Let us all, friends and relatives pray Allah to forgive Jama and bestow him the best of heavens: Jantul Fardaws, Ameen. And let us preserve all good deeds he initiated in eternity.

With heart full of sorrow, I share with Djibouti government and people, the loss of this great personality, a son of two states and one people: Djibouti and Somaliland.

http://www.facebook.com/aharwo

Mr. Ahmed Hassan Arwo

Somaliland Presidential Economic Advisor.
Presidential Palace, Hargeysa
Somaliland

Tel: 002522 409 6421
Eci.advisor@gmail.com
samotalis@gmail.com

Rape charge against Stuart Hall deepens BBC scandal

Rape charge against Stuart Hall deepens BBC scandal





LONDON | Wed Jan 23, 2013 2:19am GMT

(Reuters) - A veteran British TV presenter was charged with rape and 14 counts of indecent assault on underage girls, police said on Tuesday, deepening concerns about sex abuse by top BBC personalities decades ago.

Stuart Hall, 83, best known for hosting "It's a Knockout" in the 1970s and 1980s, was questioned after late broadcaster Jimmy Savile was exposed last year as a serial child sex abuser, prompting a flurry of further sex crime allegations.

Hall, who was still appearing regularly on BBC radio until recently, had already been charged with three counts of indecent assault, in December. He denied all charges.

Hall was bailed to appear before magistrates in Preston, northwest England, on February 7.

The rape was alleged to have been committed in 1976 against a 22-year old woman, the police said. The indecent assaults were alleged to have been committed between 1967 and 1986 and to involve 10 girls aged between nine and 16 years.

There was no immediate comment by the BBC, Britain's public broadcaster whose director general was forced out of office by the Savile scandal.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/01/23/uk-britain-bbc-arrest-idUKBRE90M00720130123

(Reporting by Paul Sandle; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford sentenced to death for drug trafficking

British grandmother Lindsay Sandiford sentenced to death for drug trafficking

Linsday Sandiford, a 56-year-old British grandmother, has been sentenced to death by firing squad in Indonesia for drug trafficking.

Lindsay Sandiford was sentenced after being found guilty of violating the country's strict drug laws by the Denpasar District Court Photo: EPA

By Jonathan Pearlman, Sydney

8:27AM GMT 22 Jan 2013

Sandiford, from Redcar in Teesside, has insisted she was set up and was forced by a gang to smuggle drugs to Bali to protect her children.

However, a court in Bali found she was at the centre of an alleged drug ring involving three other Britons and did not appear to have shown remorse.

On hearing the sentence, Sandiford wept and declined to comment as she was led back to prison, covering her face with a scarf.

Prisoners sentenced to death in Indonesia are executed by a 10 man firing squad.

Though the sentence can be overturned on appeal, prisoners will often spend years waiting for their fate to be decided. A report by Australia's Lowy Institute last year said five foreign nationals have been executed in Indonesia since 1998, all for drug crimes.

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She was arrested last May upon arrival from Bangkok at Bali's Denpasar airport after customs officials carried out a routine check and found 10.6lb of cocaine worth $2.5 million in the lining of her suitcase.

Her alleged accomplice, Julian Ponder, allegedly received cocaine from her after she agreed to cooperate with police.

Ponder, 43, an antiques dealer from Brighton, has been tried for drug possession and could also receive a death penalty when he is sentenced later this week.

He was arrested with his partner, Rachel Dougall, who was last year jailed for one year for failing to report a crime. The fourth member of the ring, Paul Beales, was sentenced to four years for possession of drugs.

The prosecutors in Sandiford's case had recommended a 15-year prison sentence and had not sought the death penalty.

However, a panel of judges at the Denpasar district court ruled that there were no mitigating circumstances and that she had damaged Bali's image as a tourist destination and weakened Indonesia's tough anti-drug's programme. Bali is a popular destination for foreign nationals and has a bustling night club scene, where drugs such as cocaine and ecstasy are commonly available.

"We found no reason to lighten her sentence," said Amser Simanjuntak, who headed the judicial panel.

_{Collect photographs of Linsday Sandiford}

British officials were quick to express their opposition to Indonesia's death penalty. About 40 foreign nationals are on death row in Indonesia.

"We can confirm that a British national is facing the death penalty in Indonesia," said a spokeswoman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. "We remain in close contact with that national and continue to provide consular assistance. The UK remains strongly opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances."

In her witness statement, Sandiford said: "I would like to begin by apologising to the Republic of Indonesia and the Indonesian people for my involvement. I would never have become involved in something like this but the lives of my children were in danger and I felt I had to protect them."

During the trial, Sandiford's lawyer read out a statement from her son, which said: "I love my mother very much and have a very close relationship with her. I know that she would do anything to protect me. I cannot imagine what I would do if she was sentenced to death in relation to these charges."

Sandiford has been assisted by the British human rights group Reprieve, which claimed she was "targeted by drug traffickers who exploited her vulnerability and made threats against her children".

Prince William Harry confirms he killed Taliban insurgents

Prince William Harry confirms he killed Taliban insurgents







Having flown on deadly sorties during his five-month deployment, British Royal Prince Harry has confirmed that he killed Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, taking them "out of the game", much like other soldiers fighting with him.

The 28-year-old, known as Captain Wales in the Army, is returning to the UK after his second deployment to the war-torn country.

As a gunner in Apache attack helicopters, Harry flew on scores of missions with his fingers on the triggers of deadly rockets, missiles and a 30 mm cannon.

"Yeah, so lots of people have," he replied when asked if he killed from the cockpit.

"The squadron's been out here. Everyone's fired a certain amount," he said.

Harry was involved with a number of missions in southern Afghanistan, from supporting allied troops to accompanying British Chinook and US Black Hawk helicopters on casualty evacuation (CASEVAC) missions.

His work as a JTAC (Joint Terminal Attack Controller)during his first tour of duty in 2007-08 saw him call in air strikes on enemy positions, which he watched unfold on a monitor nicknamed "Kill TV" with him in the hot seat.

"Take a life to save a life... That's what we revolve around, I suppose. If there's people trying to do bad stuff to our guys, then we'll take them out of the game, I suppose," he said.

Speaking to reporters while stationed at Camp Bastion he admitted he had "let himself and his family down" by his exploits in a Las Vegas hotel suite recently.

While Harry loves to muck in as "one of the guys", his father, the Prince of Wales, is always reminding him of his position, he said.

The third-in-line to the throne is also "thrilled" for Prince William and Kate Middleton, who are expecting their first child and "can't wait to be an uncle". The announcement of Kate's pregnancy came while Harry was in Afghanistan.

During his 20-week deployment, Harry flew on deadly sorties, often for hours, in support of the coalition troops and the Afghan security forces.

'It was like the Great Escape': Britons' 20-hour desert trek to escape hostage slaughter

• Two Brits wandered through Sahara for 15 miles before making it to safety
  

By DAVID WILLIAMS and LOUISE ECCLES

Reunited: Alan Wright with his wife Karlyn after returning home to Scotland

Two Britons both made extraordinary escapes from terrorists holding them hostage in the Algerian BP gas plant by trekking across the desert for 20 hours.

Exhausted and dehydrated, they wandered lost for some 15 miles, hiding behind sand dunes while all the time fearing they would walk into the hands of Al Qaeda's fighters before eventually making it to safety.

Details emerged yesterday as a third Briton, Alan Wright, 37, told how he had been part of what he called 'the Great Escape' by another group of 30 hostages, who had cut through the wire mesh of the plant's fence – only to run into a heavily armed checkpoint.

Mr Wright and his companions feared it was manned by fighters from the 'Blood Battalion' responsible for the murders of their colleagues after seizing the remote compound near In Amenas in the Sahara desert before dawn on Wednesday.

Mr Wright, separated at gunpoint into a group of four international hostages and made to kneel in the sand with hands on his head, thought he had made the 'biggest mistake' of his life.

'That was a horrible, horrible thing ... you have escaped then walked into the hands of the terrorists, or so we thought... You just think that's it... you fear the worst, you can't put into words how bad you feel,' he said yesterday.

But after an agonising 20 minutes the armed men at the checkpoint revealed themselves to be Algerian soldiers.

Three Britons are so far confirmed to have died during the siege in the Sahara. They are Paul, Morgan, 46, Kenneth Whiteside, 59, and  Kenneth Whiteside. Three more are missing, believed dead. 

In all, 22 survived. Their stories emerged as:

• Jihadist mastermind Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility in the name of Al Qaeda for the mass hostage-taking and called on France to halt air strikes in neighbouring Mali.
• The combined death toll of hostages and attackers rose to 81, and was expected to increase further.
• Five terrorists were captured alive – some are said to have been working on short-term contracts at the gas facility, raising the possibility the foreign workers knew their killers.
• An Algerian government statement said 107 foreign hostages and 685 Algerian hostages had survived.
• Algerian authorities put a huge arsenal of terrorist weapons on display.

Terror mastermind: Mokhtar Belmokhtar seen in a video in which he claimed responsibility for the hostage crisis

Armed to the teeth: The terrorists' weapons, recovered by Algerian special forces, included six machine guns, 21 rifles, two mortars with shells, two rocket-propelled grenade launchers and ten explosive belts

David Cameron said the 'cowardly attack' was a 'stark reminder' of the continuing terrorist threat. But he was careful not to criticise the Algerians, whose bomb squads were defusing mines and booby traps at the gas plant yesterday while searching for bodies.

All the British survivors are being questioned by Special Branch and intelligence officers about their ordeal.

Among them was 56-year-old father of two Lou Fear, a team leader for BP, whose escape was among the most dramatic.

He trekked for 20 hours during the baking temperatures of the day and freezing night to reach safety.

With little food and water, Mr Fear could hear gunfire and explosions from the gas plant and all the time feared he would be found – and killed – by the terrorists.

When the raid on the refinery began, Mr Fear had tried to help the wounded before he and a handful of colleagues hid while terrorists searched for them.

At one stage, said a witness, the attackers forced a Briton to shout out: 'Come out, come out, they're not going to kill you. They're looking for the Americans.' But, said the witness: 'A few minutes later, they blew him away.'

Remembered: Paul Thomas Morgan, 46, the first of the British victims of the hostage crisis in Algeria identified

Killed: Garry Barlow (left) and Kenneth Whiteside (right) also died at the oil plant

Fearing it was only a matter of time before their hideout was found, Mr Fear decided to make a break for it through holes cut in the fencing. When not walking, the men hid in dunes and what little cover the barren desert landscape afford.

It is thought he and his colleagues were trying to reach the nearest town, In Amenas, 15 miles from the gas plant, but were rescued after walking into an Algerian army patrol.

Mr Fear, who lives in Louth, Lincolnshire, is now back in Britain, where he has been reunited with his wife Lori and their children, Anna-Victoria, 21, and Richard, 23.

Mrs Fear, an elder at a Baptist church, said: 'I'm just relieved to have my husband back. He's very traumatised.'

Mr Fear, who in 2004 had helped to build the gas plant, said: 'The guys who picked us up were wonderful, they were like long-lost friends. They kept saying, "The terrorists did not come from Algeria".'

A second, unnamed, Briton was among other small groups which also managed to escape in a similar fashion.

Their ordeals as they made their way through the desert mirrored that of Mr Wright, a father of two from Portsoy in Aberdeenshire.

He said he hid in an office before joining Algerian colleagues in cutting their way through a fence and fleeing.

Terrifying: This image shows the moment that workers were first taken captive by Al Qaeda terrorists at the remote plant in Algeria

'If you have been captured, there's pretty much no escape and it is going to take a miracle to get you out,' he said yesterday.

The terrorists had tried to clear all the buildings of workers and one of the jihadists patrolled the area outside their hideaway and tried to trick them out.

Mr Wright said a man walked past saying good morning in a very friendly Arabic voice. 'That was the first moment when we thought we are in big trouble here,' he said.

The group then spent a terrifying nine hours trying to stay out of sight and wondering what was happening, covering the windows with newspaper. The next day Mr Wright was given a hat to wear to make him 'look less expat' and the group, which had now swollen to about 30, made a break for it.

They cut the perimeter fence but were still worried because the terrorists were dressed the same as the Algerian security forces, so they had no real way of knowing who to trust.

Mr Wright added: 'With the first cut of the fence, the wire made such a noise when it broke and we knew it travelled to where the terrorists were ... but within 30 seconds both fences had been cut open and we were free to go, that was it.'

Speaking after being reunited with his 31-year-old wife Karlyn, Mr Wright said it was important not to run and attract attention to themselves.

'You know these guys are behind you and if they see you, you don't know if they're going to be shooting at you, you just don't know where everybody is...

'There was a mixture of relief, but you've no idea of what is out there. We got about a kilometre into the desert and could see the military checkpoint with eight or nine personnel with guns pointing into our spot, but also that they had identified us and were making tracks to come our way.

'Then you think, "Is it the terrorists or is it the gendarmes?" And for 20 minutes you're still not sure – we're down on your knees with our hands up.'

The group was then split into Algerians and expatriates and Mr Wright thought they had walked into the hands of the terrorists before it eventually became clear that they were with the country's soldiers.

'You fear the worst, you can't put into words how bad you feel,' he said. 'It's something you never want to go through again.'

Algerian special forces stormed the facility on Saturday to end the four-day siege and later recovered a terrorist arsenal of six machine guns, 21 rifles, two shotguns, two 60mm mortars with shells, six 60mm missiles with launchers, two rocket-propelled grenades with eight rockets and ten grenades in explosive belts.

The militants came from six countries, were armed to cause maximum destruction, and had mined the In Amenas refinery, which the Algerian state oil company runs along with BP and Norway's Statoil.

Foreign Secretary William Hague branded the militants 'cold-blooded murderers' and said reports they had 'executed' seven of their hostages before the final battle could well be true.

Last BP said four of its employees from the joint venture gas plant were still missing. In a statement, the company said: 'At the time of the attack there were 18 BP employees at In Amenas; 14 of them are safe and secure. Two of the 14 have sustained injuries, but these are not life-threatening.

'BP remains gravely concerned about four of its employees who are missing. There is no further confirmed information regarding their status at this time.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2265715/Britons-20-hour-desert-trek-escape-hostage-slaughter.html#ixzz2Ib4EVnxp 
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Algeria hostage crisis: militant group wanted to trade US hostages for "Blind Sheikh"

Algeria hostage crisis: militant group wanted to trade US hostages for "Blind Sheikh"

THE al-Qaeda linked group that has claimed responsibility for the raid at BP's desert gas complex in Algeria yesterday demanded the release of a veteran jihadist known as the Blind Sheikh and a Pakistani woman, in exchange for its American hostages.

Rahman is a legendary figure in radical Islamist circles Photo: REUTERS

By Alex Spillius, and Holly Watt

4:59PM GMT 18 Jan 2013

A spokesman for the so-called "Witnesses in Blood" said that Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the group's leader, would make the demand to free Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman and the Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui, both serving life in the US for terror offences, in a video.

Rahman, an Egyptian found guilty of conspiracy to blow up the World Trade Centre in New York in 1993, is a legendary figure in radical Islamist circles.

Siddiqui is an American-educated neuroscientist jailed for assault with intent to murder her US interrogators after being named as an associate by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the September 11 mastermind.

The militants' spokesman warned Algerians to stay away from foreign companies, and vowed to carry out more attacks in retaliation for France's military intervention against Islamist groups in Mali.

"Taking into account the suffering of the Algerian people, we promise the regime that there will be more operations", Belmokhtar's representative said.

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He told Algerians to "clear out from sites belonging to foreign firms [as] we will emerge in places where nobody is expecting us".

The statement was carried by Mauritania's ANI news agency, which has previously demonstrated close links to Belmokhtar's Masked Brigade. The Witnesses in Blood appears to be a subdivision of the brigade.

In parliament, David Cameron said it was believed that the Belmokhtar group was believed to be behind the attack.

The Masked Brigade spokesman said that the group had been preparing the attack for nearly two months in reprisal for international efforts to oust Islamist groups from northern Mali. The attack itslef was lead by a senior militant Abu Bara and not Belmokhtar himself.

"We knew that the [Algerian] government was going to ally itself with France in the war against Azawad," the spokesman said, using the name rebels in north Mali have given their desert enclave. An al Qaeda-linked alliance seized control of the vast area, twice the size of Texas, last year.

Born in Ghardaia, Algeria in 1972, Belmokhtar lost an eye fighting with the mujahideen in Afghanistan against the Kabul government after the Soviet withdrawal in 1989.

He swears allegiance to al-Qaeda and named his son after Osama bin Laden, but is known in the region primarily as a gangster jihadist who puts holy war second to smuggling, kidnapping and extortion. So successful was his cigarette trafficking operation that locals came to call him "Mr Marlboro".

The United States has been monitoring him for years. The US embassy cables published by WikiLeaks said he possessed links to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), but lacked the group's ideological obsession.

His most spectacular act to date was the 2003 kidnapping of 32 European tourists, including French, Germans, Austrians and Swiss, in the Sahara.

The kidnappers are believed to have received a $6.5 million (£4.4 million) ransom, which elevated their profile and clout in the area.

Despite his links to AQIM, officials noted in US diplomatic cables that their contacts "all characterise Belmokhtar as more of a smuggler than an ideological warrior; more of an opportunist and bandit rather than a jihadi." "Even if he is not close to AQIM, an opportunist like Belmokhtar might decide there are times when it is in his immediate interest to help AQIM- but he probably weighs each instance carefully," the cables noted, with some prescience given this week's events.

Belmokhtar is believed to have married at least one Malian Tuareg woman, which brought him loyalty from Tuareg clans that reside near the Mali-Algeria border and secured his smuggling business.

A cable written in 2007 claimed that Mokhtar Belmokhtar was "seeking a deal with the government to allow him to retire and live peacefully in Mali".

At the time, it was believed that he did not support the AQIM leadership, but was not able to make a "clean break" from the organisation. The interjection of French military force appears to have strengthened those bonds.

For all his reputation for pure crime, by becoming the assumed mastermind behind the seizure of foreign hostages, he has burnished his jihadi credentials by showing that al-Qaeda's ideology remains a potent threat to Western interests despite the death of its leader in Pakistan in 2011.

Algerian hostage crisis: militants retain part-control of gas plant

Algerian hostage crisis: militants retain part-control of gas plant

Jihadist group surrounded by government forces after fierce battle that reportedly cost the lives of some 30 hostages

Julian Borger, Angelique Chrisafis in Paris, and Justin McCurry in Tokyo
guardian.co.uk, 

TV pictures of hostages freed from the gas facility in Algeria. Photograph: Reuters Tv/Reuters

A small group of jihadists are still holding part of the In Amenas natural gas plant in eastern Algeria, where they are surrounded by government forces after a fierce battle that reportedly cost the lives of some 30 hostages.

Reports from the remote desert region said that about 30 foreign contractors at the site have still not been accounted for, following the surprise Algerian assault on the hostage-takers on Thursday. However, it was impossible to confirm that figure independently.

David Cameron told the House of Commons on Friday morning that "quite significantly" fewer than 30 British citizens were still at risk. The Guardian understands the actual total of those unaccounted for is believed to be around 10.

"We are still dealing with a fluid and dangerous situation where a part of the terrorist threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, but there still remains a threat in another part," the prime minister said.

Radio France's correspondent in Algeria reported that between seven and 10 attackers armed with explosives were still in the In Amenas plant's machine room. Algerian forces have freed about 100 of the 132 foreigners who were taken hostage in a gas facility in the Algerian desert, a security source told Reuters.

The fate of the others - whether they remained captive or had been killed - remained unclear, he said, as the situation at the plant was "changing rapidly".

Two unnamed British men who were said to have been in the compound during the siege gave interviews on Algerian television about their experience. "I think they did a fantastic job," one man said. "I was very impressed with the Algerian army.

"It was a very exciting episode. I feel sorry for anybody who has been hurt but, other than that, I enjoyed it."

A second man said: "The gendarmes did a fantastic job. They kept us all nice and safe and fought off the bad guys. I never really felt in any danger, to be honest."

The Algerian Press Service quoted a security official as saying: "[The army] is still trying to achieve a 'peaceful outcome' before neutralising the terrorist group that is holed up in the [facility] and freeing a group of hostages still being held."

Japan said three of its nationals had escaped but 10 were still not accounted for. The US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, who met the prime minister in London, said "somewhere in the vicinity" of seven or eight Americans had been taken hostage. The Norwegian government said one of its citizens escaped from the gas complex overnight and was recovering in hospital, but that it did not know the fate of eight others.

A plane carrying a UK foreign office rapid deployment team landed in the desert outpost of Hassi Messaoud this afternoon, and was waiting for Algerian clearance to fly the remaining 300 miles south-east to In Amenas, on the border with Libya. The foreign office said that BP, a partner in the gas field, had taken the lead in organising the evacuation of rescued and escaped British workers but that the government team was there as a contingency to offer support. In the team there were also officials (believed to be from the intelligence agencies) to debrief hostages before they returned to the UK.

A US plane has meanwhile flown to the region to pick up freed American hostages, and a US drone was reported to be flying over the gas field.

The Algerian government claimed to have killed 18 of the "Signers in Blood" militant group, and reports from the area said the surviving guerillas had been driven out of the gas field's living quarters, where they had taken hundreds of hostages, and into the gas plant itself. The pumps have been turned off to avert a catastrophic explosion.

After sharp criticism from Japan for launching a military assault on the hostage-takers, and from the UK for not informing London before launching the operation, the Algerian authorities defended their actions, saying the militants were attempting to flee the scene with the hostages, who were believed to be in imminent jeopardy.

The government in Algiers issued a statement saying: "This operation saved hundreds of hostages lives and averted a disaster at the gas installations."

However, the Mauritanian news agency ANI, which has stayed in contact with the militant group throughout the siege, quoted a source in its ranks as saying they had not intended to leave the gas field but were moving a group of hostages from one part of the complex to another when Algerian army helicopter gunships opened fire on the vehicles ferrying the hostages and their captors.

The ANI also quoted the militants threatening more attacks on oil and gas installations in Algeria. A spokesman called on Algerians to "keep away from the installations of foreign companies, because we will suddenly attack where no one would expect it".

France, which is dependent on the co-operation of Algeria for the smooth running of its Mali operation, namely in terms of securing its border and opening its airspace, was positive in its comments on the Algerian assault on the facility. The French interior minister Manual Valls said he "cautioned prudence against criticism" of the Algerian operation and recognised Algeria's fight against terrorism alongside France.

The French president, François Hollande, said he had every confidence in the Algerian authorities to handle the situation, which he referred to as "unfolding in dramatic conditions".

Japan's prime minister, Shinzo Abe, cut short a three-nation visit to south-east Asia to return to Tokyo to oversee Japan's response to the crisis.

Abe, who was due to make a foreign policy speech in Indonesia on Friday evening, was expected to return to the Japanese capital early on Saturday.

There was irritation, bordering on anger, that the Algerian government had not notified Japan of the rescue attempt. Tokyo was told of the military operation by Britain's ambassador to Algeria, local reports said.

Abe told reporters he had asked his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmalek Sellal, in a phone call to refrain from any moves that could threaten the safety of the hostages. Japan's top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, described the rescue attempt as regrettable, amid unconfirmed reports that two Japanese nationals were among those who died during the assault.

The Japanese services contractor operating at the Algerian gas field, JGC, said that of the 61 non-Japanese it employed at the facility, 10 had been accounted for. JGC's president and other company executives were due to leave for Algeria on Friday.

Foreigners still caught in Sahara hostage crisis

Foreigners still caught in Sahara hostage crisis

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• UK's William Hague condemns Algeria attack
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By Lamine Chikhi

ALGIERS | Fri Jan 18, 2013 12:00pm EST

(Reuters) - More than 20 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing inside a gas plant on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the desert complex to free hundreds of captives taken by Islamist militants, who threatened to attack other energy installations.

Thirty hostages, including at least seven Westerners, were killed during Thursday's assault, along with at least 18 of their captors, said an Algerian security source.

The attack, which plunged capitals around the world into crisis mode, is a serious escalation of unrest in northwestern Africa, where French forces have been in Mali since last week fighting an Islamist takeover of Timbuktu and other towns.

"We are still dealing with a fluid and dangerous situation where a part of the terrorist threat has been eliminated in one part of the site, but there still remains a threat in another part," British Prime Minister David Cameron told his parliament.

A local Algerian source said 100 of 132 foreign hostages had been freed from the facility. The fate of the other 32 was unclear as the situation was changing rapidly.

Earlier he said 60 were still missing with some believed still held hostage, but it was unclear how many, and how many might be in hiding elsewhere in the sprawling compound.

Two Japanese, two Britons and a French national were among the seven foreigners confirmed dead in the army's storming, the Algerian security source told Reuters. One British citizen was killed when the gunmen seized the hostages on Wednesday.

Those still unaccounted for on Friday included 10 from Japan and eight Norwegians, according to their employers, and a number of Britons which Cameron put at "significantly" less than 30.

France said it had no information on two Frenchmen who may have been at the site and Washington has said a number of Americans were among the hostages, without giving details. The local source said a U.S. aircraft landed nearby on Friday.

Some countries have been reluctant to give details of the numbers of their missing nationals to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to their captors.

As Western leaders clamored for news, several expressed anger they had not been consulted by the Algerian government about its decision to storm the facility.

The sprawling facility housed hundreds of workers. Algeria's state news agency said the army had rescued 650 hostages in total, 573 of whom were Algerians.

"(The army) is still trying to achieve a 'peaceful outcome' before neutralizing the terrorist group that is holed up in the (facility) and freeing a group of hostages that is still being held," it said, quoting a security source.

MULTINATIONAL INSURGENCY

Algerian commanders said they moved in on Thursday about 30 hours after the siege began because the gunmen had demanded to be allowed to take their captives abroad.

An Irish engineer who survived said he saw four jeeps full of hostages blown up by Algerian troops.

A French hostage employed by a French catering company said Algerian military forces had found some British hostages hiding and were combing the sprawling In Amenas site for others when he was escorted away by the military.

"I hid in my room for nearly 40 hours, under the bed. I put boards up pretty much all round," Alexandre Berceaux told Europe 1 raid. "I didn't know how long I was going to stay there ... I was afraid. I could see myself already ending up in a pine box."

"When Algerian solders ... came for me, I didn't even know it was over. They were with some of my colleagues, otherwise I'd never have opened the door."

Western governments are trying to determine the degree to which the hostage taking was part of an international conspiracy and was linked, as the captors claimed, to the week-old French military intervention in neighboring Mali.

The Algerian security source said only two of 11 militants whose bodies were found on Thursday were Algerian, including the squad's leader. The others comprised three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a Frenchman, he said.

Algeria state news agency APS said the group had planned to take the hostages to Mali.

The plant was heavily fortified, with security, controlled access and an army camp with hundreds of armed personnel between the accommodation and processing plant, Andy Coward Honeywell, who worked there in 2009, told the BBC.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said those responsible would be hunted down: "Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere," he said in London. "Those who would wantonly attack our country and our people will have no place to hide."

MALI WOES

The crisis posed a serious dilemma for former colonial power Paris and its allies as French troops attacked the hostage-takers' al Qaeda allies in Mali, another former colony.

The desert fighters have proved to be better trained and equipped than France had anticipated, diplomats told Reuters at the United Nations, which said 400,000 people could flee Mali to neighboring countries in the coming months.

In Algeria, the kidnappers warned locals to stay away from foreign companies' oil and gas installations, threatening more attacks, Mauritania's news agency ANI said, citing a spokesman for the group.

Algerian workers form the backbone of an oil and gas industry that has attracted international firms in recent years partly because of military-style security. The kidnapping, storming and further threat cast a deep shadow over its future.

Hundreds of workers from international oil companies were evacuated from Algeria on Thursday and many more will follow, BP, which jointly ran the gas plant with Norway's Statoil and the Algerian state oil firm, said on Friday.

The overall commander of the kidnappers, Algerian officials said, was Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran of Afghanistan in the 1980s and Algeria's bloody civil war of the 1990s and one of a host of Saharan Islamists, flush with arms and fighters from the 2011 civil war in Libya. He appears not to have been present.

Algerian security specialist Anis Rahmani, author of several books on terrorism and editor of Ennahar daily, told Reuters about 70 militants were involved from two groups, Belmokhtar's "Those who sign in blood", who travelled from Libya, and the lesser known "Movement of the Islamic Youth in the South".

"They were carrying heavy weapons including rifles used by the Libyan army during (Muammar) Gadaffi's rule," he said. "They also had rocket-propelled grenades and machineguns."

Algeria's government is implacably at odds with Islamist guerrillas who remain at large in the south, years after the civil war through the 1990s in which some 200,000 people died.

Britain's Cameron, who warned people to prepare for bad news and who cancelled a major policy speech on Friday to deal with the situation, said he would have liked Algeria to have consulted before the raid. Japan made similar complaints.

U.S. officials had no clear information on the fate of Americans, though a U.S. military drone had flown over the area. Washington, like its European allies, has endorsed France's move to protect the Malian capital by mounting air strikes last week and now sending 1,400 ground troops to attack Islamist rebels.

The apparent ease with which the fighters swooped in from the dunes to take control of an important energy facility, which produces some 10 percent of the natural gas on which Algeria depends for its export income, has raised questions over the value of outwardly tough security measures.

(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti in Cairo, Eamonn Mallie in Belfast, Gwladys Fouche in Oslo, Mohammed Abbas in London and Padraic Halpin and Conor Humprhies in Dublin; Writing by Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Peter Graff)