Gas Plant Worker And 2 Canadians Helped Terrorists In Siege, Algerian PM Says

An Al Qaeda-linked militant group who took control of a Algerian gas plant during a four-day-long siege that left 38 hostages dead, including three Americans, did it with help from the inside, Algeria's prime minister said Monday.

Abdelmalek Sellal, speaking to reporters at a news conference in Algiers, said the kidnappers came from Egypt, Canada, Mali, Niger, Mauritania and Tunisia. He said the group, wearing Algerian army uniforms, included a former driver from Niger who worked at the facility and a team of explosives experts who had memorized the layout of the sprawling complex and were ready to blow the place sky-high. He added that two Canadians were among them.

Algeria detailed a grim toll from the attack, saying that 38 hostages and 29 militants died. Three of the attackers were captured and five foreign workers remained unaccounted for, Sellal told reporters at a news conference in Algiers, the capital.
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