* Cameron “disappointed” Algeria gave no warning of rescue
* Britons at risk, but number much lower than 30 people
* Cameron condemns “savage attack”, offers support
By Mohammed Abbas
LONDON, Jan 18 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister David
Cameron said on Friday he was disappointed Algeria gave him no
advance warning of an operation to rescue hostages held in a
desert gas facility and warned that Britons caught up in the
crisis were still at risk.
Promising to hunt down the hostage takers for their “brutal
and savage attack”, he said that the danger had not passed and
that the Islamist militants still posed a threat in one part of
the site, despite an assault by Algerian forces.
About 60 foreigners were still being held hostage or missing
on Friday after Algerian forces stormed the complex to free
hundreds of captives taken by militants, who threatened to
attack other energy installations.
While contacts with the Algerian government had been good,
Cameron said he was “disappointed not to be informed of the
assault in advance and we do want to help in any way we can with
technical help and assistance”. He said Algeria had made no such
request.
“We were not informed of this in advance,” Cameron told
parliament. “I was told by the Algerian prime minister while it
was taking place.”
The situation was unfolding on sovereign Algerian territory
and the authorities there had the right to handle things as they
saw fit, he said. He said he understood the decision to act had
been taken because of an “imminent” threat to lives.
The number of Britons being held was now “quite
significantly reduced” from the “less than 30” said to be in
danger on Thursday evening, Cameron said. British media reports
put the number at between ten and 20.
PLANNED ATTACK
Describing how the crisis unfolded, Cameron said a British
citizen was one of two people killed during the initial assault
by Algerian forces on two buses travelling to a nearby airfield
on Wednesday.
“It appears to have been a large, well co-ordinated and
heavily armed assault and it is probable that it had been
pre-planned,” he said.
Cameron discussed the crisis with U.S. President Barack
Obama on Thursday evening and has chaired several meetings of
his government’s emergency committee in the past 48 hours.
Cameron cancelled a long-anticipated speech on Britain’s
role in Europe on Friday to handle the security crisis, one of
the gravest since he came to power in 2010.
A British rapid deployment team of diplomats and other
specialists was travelling to Algiers, the Algerian capital,
Cameron said.
Britain’s Foreign Office said it had sent a plane to the
town of Hassi Messaoud, eastern Algeria, 280 miles (450km) from
the gas complex. There are staff on board who are trained to
help people who have been through stressful situations.
“They are on standby to provide assistance. It’s the closest
they can get to the scene at the moment,” a Foreign Office
spokesman said.
Cameron on Friday met U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta,
who is London as part of an official visit to European capitals.
“Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no
sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not
anywhere,” Panetta said.
