An Irishman caught up in the Algerian hostage crisis has been freed as Algeria's state news agency APS said that the military operation to free hostages at a remote desert gas facility had ended.

The death toll among hostages remained unclear tonight. One Algerian security source said 30 hostages were killed but Algerian state television said that four captives had died.

Algerian communications minister Mohamed Said Belaid said: “The operation was successful in neutralising a large number of terrorists and freeing a large number of hostages but unfortunately, we are sorry to say, there were some deaths and injuries.

“We do not yet have a definitive figure. As soon as we have it, we will make it public," he said.

At least 11 Islamist militants including their leader were killed when Algerian forces stormed a desert gas plant to rescue dozens of hostages, the Algerian security source said.

He said two Algerians, including the group's leader Tahar Ben Cheneb, a prominent commander in the region, were among the dead, along with three Egyptians, two Tunisians, two Libyans, a Malian and a French citizen. It was not clear whether further bodies of militants might be found now the operation is over.

The freed Irishman Stephen McFaul (36) from west Belfast made contact with his family at around 3pm to inform them he was "safe and well" and no longer a hostage, the Department of Foreign Affairs said.

Fears had been growing for the safety of Mr McFaul as conflicting and contradictory reports emerged about the ongoing terrorist incident at the In Amenas gas field complex in the east of the African country. Mr McFaul had been working as an electrical engineer in Algeria.

Family's relief

Mr McFaul’s father, Christopher, described the last 48 hours as “hell” but said the family had been “very strong”. His mother, Marie, said: "I’m delighted, thrilled to bits, sorry for other people that are still there, but we’re very happy, over the moon”. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he was “greatly relieved” to hear that Mr McFaul’s ordeal had ended.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore said he was "extremely thankful and relieved" to learn that Mr McFaul was safe.



Twenty-five foreign hostages escaped when Algerian forces launched a surprise operation to free them at a remote desert gas plant, Algerian sources said, as one of the biggest international hostage crises in decades unfolded.

British prime minister David Cameron said tonight that his country should be “prepared for the possibility of further bad news” in the hostage crisis in Algeria.



With a confused picture of what is happening on the ground following an Algerian military operation, Mr Cameron has postponed his speech on Europe in the Netherlands tomorrow to stay in Downing Street.



One British citizen is known to have died in the crisis and several others have been caught up in it.



Mr Cameron said: “It’s a fluid situation, it’s ongoing, it’s very uncertain.....We should be prepared for the possibility of further bad news, very difficult news, in this extremely difficult situation.”



The British government has confirmed that there are “several” British nationals among the foreign hostages held by Islamist militants at the gas plant at In Amenas, deep in the Algerian desert.

The stand-off began when gunmen calling themselves the Battalion of Blood stormed the gas facility yesterday morning. They said they were holding 41 foreigners and demanded a halt to a French military operation against fellow al-Qaeda-linked Islamist militants in neighbouring Mali.



The raid increased fears that jihadist militants could launch further attacks in Algeria, a vast desert country with large oil and gas reserves that is only just recovering from a protracted conflict with Islamist rebels during the 1990s which cost an estimated 200,000 lives.



Fast-moving details of the military operation to free the hostages from the gas plant were difficult to confirm. Algeria's official APS news agency said about half the foreign hostages had been freed.



A local source told Reuters six foreign hostages were killed along with eight captors when the Algerian military fired on a vehicle being used by the gunmen.



Mauritania's ANI news agency, which has been in constant contact with the kidnappers, said seven hostages were still being held: two Americans, three Belgians, one Japanese and one British citizen.



It quoted one of the kidnappers as saying that Algerian ground forces were trying to fight their way into the complex.



ANI and Qatar-based Al Jazeera reported that 34 of the captives and 15 of their captors had been killed when government forces fired from helicopters at a vehicle. Those death tolls, far higher than confirmed by the local source, would contradict the reports that large numbers of foreigners escaped alive.



Britain and Norway, whose oil firms BP and Statoil run the plant jointly with the Algerian state oil company, said they had been informed by the Algerian authorities that a military operation was under way but did not provide details.



As many as 600 Algerian workers at the site managed to flee, the official Algerian news agency said.

Britain was not informed in advance of the Algerian decision to stage a military intervention in the hostage crisis, Downing Street said today. David Cameron was told that an operation was under way only when he telephoned the Algerian prime minister at 11.30am today, the prime minister’s official spokesman said. Mr Cameron made clear that he would have preferred to be informed in advance, but the Algerians said they had had to act immediately.



The incident dramatically raises the stakes in the French military campaign in neighbouring Mali, where hundreds of French paratroopers and marines are launching a ground offensive against rebels after air strikes began last week.



Algerian interior minister Daho Ould Kablia said the kidnappers were led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran Islamist guerrilla who fought Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s and had set up his own group in the Sahara after falling out with other local al-Qaeda leaders.



A holy warrior-cum-smuggler dubbed "The Uncatchable" by French intelligence and "Mister Marlboro" by some locals for his illicit cigarette-running business, Belmokhtar's links to those who seized towns across northern Mali last year are unclear.



The hostage takers earlier allowed some prisoners to speak to the media, apparently to put pressure on Algerian forces not to storm the compound. An unidentified hostage who spoke to France 24 television said prisoners were forced to wear explosive belts and captors had threatened to blow up the plant.



A local source said the hostage takers had blown up a petrol filling station at the plant.



Numbers unconfirmed



The precise number and nationalities of foreign hostages could not be confirmed, with some countries reluctant to release information that could be useful to the captors. Britain said one of its citizens was killed in the initial storming yesterday and "a number" of others were held.



The militants said seven Americans were among their hostages, a figure US officials said they could not confirm.



Norwegian oil company Statoil said nine of its Norwegian staff and three Algerian employees were captive. Britain's BP, which operates the plant with Statoil and Algerian state oil company Sonatrach, said some of its staff were held but would not say how many or their nationalities.



Japanese media said five workers from Japanese engineering firm JGC Corporation were held, a number the company did not confirm.



Spanish oil company Cepsa said it had begun to evacuate personnel from elsewhere in Algeria, an Opec member.



Paris said the Algeria attack demonstrated it was right to intervene in Mali: "We have the flagrant proof that this problem goes beyond just the north of Mali," French ambassador to Mali Christian Rouyer told France Inter radio.



French president Francois Hollande has received public backing from Western and African allies who fear that al-Qaeda, flush with men and arms from the defeated forces of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, is building a desert haven in Mali, a poor country helpless to combat fighters who seized its north last year.



However, there is also some concern in Washington and other capitals that the French action in Mali could provoke a backlash worse than the initial threat by militants in the remote Sahara.



The militants, communicating through established contacts with media in neighbouring Mauritania, said they had dozens of men armed with mortars and anti-aircraft missiles in the compound and had rigged it with explosives.



"We hold the Algerian government and the French government and the countries of the hostages fully responsible if our demands are not met, and it is up to them to stop the brutal aggression against our people in Mali," read one statement carried by Mauritanian media.



They condemned Algeria's secularist government for letting French warplanes fly over its territory to Mali and shutting its border to Malian refugees.



Pressing on



The attack in Algeria did not stop France from pressing on with its campaign in Mali. It said on Thursday it now had 1,400 troops on the ground in Mali, and combat was underway against the rebels that it first began targeting from the air last week.

At am meeting of EU foreign ministers this morning, Minister of State for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton, condemned the actions of terrorist groups in Mali.

“Military action alone will not secure peace and stability in Mali. I urge the Malian parties to adopt and implement a roadmap for transitions to democratic elections," she said.

Additional reporting: AP/Reuters/PA