Seven foreign hostages held by Islamist gunmen at a gas facility in Algeria are still alive after an Algerian army attack, a spokesman for the captors told Mauritania's ANI news agency Thursday.
He claimed the army had started an operation to storm the facility where the seven are being held.
He said the seven were three Belgians, two Americans, a Japanese and a Briton. He made an appeal for the companies operating the facility to help hostages injured in the military attack.