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 Jim Miklaszewski, Ian Johnston and Tracy Connor, NBC NewsOne American was killed and two escaped unharmed from a natural gas complex in Algeria that was stormed by armed militants, U.S. officials said Friday. The fate of two others was unclear.
The officials said there was a total of five Americans at the In Amenas plant in eastern Algeria when the attackers seized dozens of hostages on Wednesday. The officials say two of the Americans managed to conceal themselves when the attack began and later escaped unharmed.
One American was found dead Friday by Algerian forces that had launched a raid on Thursday in an attempt to free the hostages, the officials said.
Al-Qaida-linked militants claimed Friday that they were holding two American hostages and would exchange them for two convicted terrorists being held in the U.S.: the blind sheik Omar Abdel Rahman convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and a Pakistani scientist, Aafie Siddiqqui, convicted of attacking US soldiers in Afghanistan.
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