Bodies of 25 Algeria hostages found in gas facility after deadly raid
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe talks on a phone at his office while in flight on a government plane heading to Jakarta from Bangkok on January 18, 2013. Abe is to cut short his visit to Indonesia, to fly home and deal with the hostage crisis in Algeria on January 19 in which numerous Japanese are caught up. Abe is on the final leg of his first foreign trip since returning to office late last year.
The Algerian Army has found 25 bodies in the gas facility occupied by militants during the recent hostage crisis, and believes that they are the remains of the foreign hostages executed by their captors, writes Reuters.
The private Algerian television station Ennahar, which provided the information to Reuters, added that the Algerian Army suspects that their efforts to clear the internationally-managed facility will take 48 hours.
Read more from GlobalPost: Algeria: 7 hostages, 11 militants dead as conflict comes to an end
The Associated Press writes that "numerous" bodies were discovered by an Algerian bomb squad surveying the facility and removing bombs planted by militants, with the caveat that the bodies are so badly disfigured they "could be either Algerian or foreign hostages."
The chief government spokesman for Algeria has stated that although the hostage death toll officially stood at 23 Saturday, he was concerned the figure would rise as the sweep of the facility was completed, added AP.
Read more from GlobalPost: Algeria hostage crisis 'not over,' could bring 'bad news,' says Britain
Algeria's hostage crisis ended on Saturday after the Algerian Army decided to storm the gas facility, allegedly killing all 32 militants — but apparently prompting militants to execute numerous foreign hostages under their control.
During the crisis situation, 685 Algerian workers and 107 foreigners were freed, although numerous people have yet to be accounted for, writes CNN.
The Algerian government reports that militants of 6 separate nationalities were reportedly involved in the hostage situation, according to Reuters, hailing from Arab, African, and "non-African" nations.