Algeria hostage crisis: raid followed risky Russian siege tactics What is clear is that they were afraid the hostage-takers were escaping towards the Libyan border 60 miles away, and were determined not to let them. For years, Algeria fought a vicious civil war at a cost of 200,000 lives against Islamists, some of whom, after their eventual defeat, morphed into a branch of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, and carried on a local insurgency. In the last decade, a few hundred militants have managed to survive despite the vaunted strength of the Algerian army, something that has itself given rise to conspiracy theories about Algeria's relationship with them. But an attack against a key facility like this, a key economic asset, would certainly have triggered the maximum response, and deterring future attacks would be a high priority. "I think it must have been a reaction on the spot - that they couldn't let these people escape," said Claire Spencer, head of the Middle East programme at Chatham House, an Algeria expert. It's a violent culture, but that doesn't mean they would always act like this. The relationship with the Russian armed forces, who sacrificed countless civilian lives in wars against Islamists and separatists first in Afghanistan and later in Chechnya, continues despite Algeria's growing closeness to the West. French analysts said the Algerian force given responsibility was the "Special Intervention Group," a force dating back to a now disbanded unit employed to brutal effect in the civil war. It would have regarded any escape by the militants as especially humiliating. "They do not negotiate with terrorists," Philippe Lobjois, an Algeria specialist, told Europe 1 radio. That point was reiterated by Algeria's own communications minister, Mohamed Said Belaid on Wednesday as the raid was under way. "We say that in the face of terrorism, yesterday as today as tomorrow, there will be no negotiation, no blackmail, no respite," Mr Belaid said. The Special Intervention Group turned out to be as good as his word.