French troops surrounded the desert village of Diabaly in central Mali on Wednesday, the first direct engagement since France launched a military assault last week to oust radical Islamists who have advanced to within 250 miles of the capital.
The escalation set the stage for a perilous ground conflict. In waging ground combat, France is entering the comfort zone of the rebels, who know the desert terrain and are veterans of guerrilla warfare. They have blended into the local population, occupied houses and are hiding in mango groves to stage ambushes, residents said in telephone interviews.
Islamic terrorists linked to al-Qaeda attacked an Algerian natural gas facility Wednesday, killing one British and one French worker and taking numerous hostages, possibly including seven Americans.
A spokesman for the group, Qatiba, which translates as Those Who Sign with Their Blood, told Mauritanian news website Sahara Media Agency that jihadists seized the gas facility at In Mounas in eastern Algeria and took hostages.
The group said the attack was in retaliation for Algeria's decision to allow French aircraft to use its airspace in its military intervention in Mali that began last week.
Norwegian oil company Statoil and British company BP confirmed their facilities at In Amenas in southeastern Algerian came under attack at 5 a.m. local time Wednesday.
"Contact with the site is extremely difficult, but we understand that armed individuals are still occupying the operations site," said BP spokesman Robert Wine.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said U.S. officials were in touch with Algeria about the attack. "The best information we have at this time is that U.S. citizens are among the hostages," Nuland said.
The French and British governments confirmed that two citizens from their countries had been killed. Japan said some of their citizens were involved as well. A Norwegian woman said her husband called her saying he had been taken hostage.
Ireland's Foreign Ministry said one of its citizens was being held hostage also and the person to be released.
Read more: French troops surround desert village in Mali - The Washington Post
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