ALGERIA -- CBS News is reporting as many as 45 hostages, including Americans, escaped Thursday morning from a natural gas complex, just one day after Islamic terrorists kidnapped them in Eastern Algeria.
There are also reports some of the hostages may have been killed. This all happened, after Algerian forces tried to retake a gas complex from the terrorists. Since Wednesday, militants claiming to be part of Al Qaida have been holding hostages, some of them Americans, at the facility in the Sahara desert. United States officials have been in constant contact with Algerian authorities since then.
According to CBS News, the terrorists say they took over the gas plant in retaliation for French air strikes against Al-Qaida fighters in nearby Mali. With support from the United States, the French started bombing Mali last week, to keep Islamic groups from taking over the country. The terrorists say they want France to call off all military operations before they release the hostages.
The Obama administration says it is not revealing the names of the Americans being held hostage, for their own security. United States Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is calling this a quote, "terrorist attack."
