A number of hostages have reportedly managed to escape from the natural gas facility in Algeria where hostages from 10 countries have now been held for three days, while some were killed and injured during a raid by the Algerian military and still more remain unaccounted for. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.By Ian Johnston and Tracy Connor, NBC NewsThe fate of foreign hostages still held in Algeria was a mystery Friday as Islamic militants reportedly offered to swap two Americans for the release of a blind sheik jailed for terrorism in the U.S.
The Algerian military launched a second raid on the multinational cabal of kidnappers — led by a one-eyed al-Qaida associate — who laid siege to the In Amenas gas plant on Wednesday, state TV reported.
The situation was fluid, but the U.S. said one thing was carved in stone: It would not be cutting any deals with the captors.
"The United States does not negotiate with terrorists,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said of reports the militants were seeking the release of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life term for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill U.S. soldiers after being arrested in Afghanistan in 2008.
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