ALGIERS Algeria's prime minister accused a Canadian of coordinating last week's raid on a desert gas plant and, praising the storming of the complex where 38 mostly foreign hostages were killed, he pledged to resist the rise of Islamists in the Sahara. 
 
 Algeria will never succumb to terrorism or allow al Qaeda to establish "Sahelistan", an Afghan-style power base in arid northwest Africa, Abdelmalek Sellal told a news conference in Algiers where he also said at least 37 foreign hostages died. 
 
 "There is clear political will," the prime minister said. 
 
 Claimed by an Algerian al Qaeda leader as a riposte to France's attack on his allies in neighboring Mali the previous week, the four-day siege drew global attention to Islamists in the Sahara and Sahel regions and brought promises of support to African governments from Western powers whose toppling of Libya's Muammar Gaddafi helped flood the region with weapons. 
 
 The attack on a valuable part of its vital energy industry raised questions about the security capacity of an establishment that took power from French colonists 50 years ago, held off a bloody Islamist insurgency in the 1990s and has avoided the democratic upheavals the Arab Spring brought to North Africa. 
 
 Sellal said a Canadian citizen whom he named only as Chedad, a surname found among Arabs in the region, was among 29 gunmen killed and added that he had "coordinated" the attack. Another three militants were taken alive and were in custody. 
 
 Among hostages confirmed dead by their own governments were three Americans, seven Japanese, six Filipinos and three Britons; others from Britain, Norway and elsewhere were listed as unaccounted for. Sellal said seven of the 37 foreign dead were unidentified, while a further five foreigners were missing. 
 
 Nearly 700 Algerians and 100 other foreigners survived. 
 
 An Algerian security source said investigators pursuing the possibility that the attackers had inside help to map the complex and gain entry were questioning at least two employees. 
 
 Prime Minister David Cameron told parliament in London that Britain would increase its help to Algeria's intelligence and security forces and might do more for France in Mali, though he ruled out sending many of its stretched armed forces to Africa. 
 
 Noting a shift in the source of threats to British interests from Afghanistan to Africa, he also noted Sellal's rundown of a multinational group of gunmen from across north and west Africa and said the region was becoming "a magnet for jihadists". 
 
 Alongside a "strong security response", however, he called for efforts to address long-standing grievances, such as poverty and political exclusion, which foster support for violence. Some militants in Algeria want autonomy for the south and complain of domination by an unchanging establishment in Algiers. 
 
 DEATH AND SURVIVAL 
 
 As Algerian forces combed the Tigantourine plant near the town of In Amenas for explosives and the missing, survivors and the bereaved told tales of terror, narrow escapes and of death. 
 
 "The terrorists lined up four hostages and assassinated them ... shot them in the head," a brother of Kenneth Whiteside told Sky News, in an account of the Briton's death given to the family by an Algerian colleague who witnessed it. "Kenny just smiled the whole way through. He'd accepted his fate." 
 
 Filipino survivor Joseph Balmaceda said gunmen used him for cover: "Whenever government troops tried to use a helicopter to shoot at the enemy, we were used as human shields." 
 
 Another Briton, Garry Barlow, called his wife from within the site before he was killed and said: "I'm sat here at my desk with Semtex strapped to my chest." 
 
 Several hostages died on Thursday when Algerian helicopters blasted jeeps in which the militants were trying to move them. 
 
 An Algerian security source had earlier told Reuters that documents found on the bodies of two militants had identified them as Canadians: "A Canadian was among the militants. He was coordinating the attack," Sellal said. 
 
 In Ottawa, Canada's foreign affairs department said it was seeking information. Security experts noted that some Canadian citizens had been involved with international militants before. 
 
 Officials have also named other militants in recent days as having leadership roles among the attackers. Veteran Islamist Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility on behalf of al Qaeda. 
 
 In a video distributed on the Internet, the one-eyed veteran of Afghan wars of the 1980s, of Algeria's civil war and of the lucrative trans-Sahara cigarette smuggling trade, said: "We in al Qaeda announce this blessed operation." 
 
 Dressed in combat fatigues, Belmokhtar demanded an end to French attacks on Islamist fighters in Mali. 
 
 The jihadists had planned the attack two months ago in neighboring Mali, Sellal added. They had traveled from there through Niger and Libya, hence evading Algeria's strong security services, until close to In Amenas. Their aim, he said, had been to take foreign hostages to Mali, and they made a first attempt to take captives from a bus near the site early on Wednesday. 
 
 Normally producing 10 percent of Algeria's natural gas, the facility was shut down during the incident. The government said it aimed to reopen it this week, although officials at Britain's BP and Norway's Statoil, which operate the plant with Algeria's state energy firm, said the plans were not clear. 
 
 MALI CONFLICT 
 
 An Algerian newspaper said the jihadists had arrived in cars painted in the colors of Algerian state energy firm Sonatrach but registered in Libya, a country awash with weaponry since Western powers backed a revolt to oust Gaddafi in 2011. 
 
 Using his oil wealth, the Libyan dictator exercised a degree of influence in the region and the consequences of his death are still unfolding. 
 
 In a sign of the complexities wrought by the Arab Spring revolts, Egypt, a former military dictatorship now led by one of the generals' Islamist foes, criticized France's intervention in Mali on Monday. President Mohamed Mursi called instead for more spending to address rebels' grievances and warned that the military moves would "inflame the conflict in this region". 
 
 The bloodshed also increased the strains in Algeria's long fraught relations with Western powers, where some complained about being left in the dark while the decision to storm the compound was being taken. 
 
 But this week, Britain and France both defended the military action by Algeria, the strongest military power in the Sahara and an ally the West needs in combating the militants. 
 
 Chafik Mesbah, a former Algerian presidential security adviser, said: "The West did not criticize Algeria because it knows an assault was inevitable in the circumstances ... The victims were a minimum price to pay to solve the crisis." 
 
 (Writing by Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Mark Heinrich) ||||| Image caption Algerian troops ended the siege on Saturday 
 
 Five suspected members of the Islamist group which held foreign and local workers hostage at an Algerian gas plant have been arrested, reports say. 
 
 The reports came a day after the Algerian authorities said all 32 hostage-takers had been killed at the In Amenas gas installation. 
 
 At least 25 bodies were found at the complex on Sunday, reports say. 
 
 It is unclear whether they were captors or captives. Officials say a definitive death toll will be released later. 
 
 On Saturday officials said least 23 staff at the facility had died during the four-day siege, with some Western workers still unaccounted for. 
 
 The siege was ended in a raid by troops on Saturday. 
 
 Officials said the army launched its assault after Islamist militants began killing foreign hostages. 
 
 UK Prime Minister David Cameron and US President Barack Obama have blamed "terrorists" for the hostages' deaths. 
 
 We are ready to negotiate with the west and the Algerian government, provided they stop their bombing of Mali's Muslims Mokhtar Belmokhtar, Militant leader Profile: Mokhtar BelmokhtarTerror threat to last 'decades' - UK 
 
 And on Sunday French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described the hostage-taking as an "act of war". 
 
 "What strikes me the most is that we're saying 'hostage-taking' but when there are so many people concerned, I think this is an act of war," he told French TV. 
 
 As Western leaders condemned the kidnappings, Algerian Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said Algeria would boost security at its energy installations without outside help. 
 
 "It is out of the question to allow foreign security forces to handle the security of our oil facilities," he said, quoted by Algeria's APS news agency. 
 
 During a visit to the affected plant, Mr Yousfi said it would resume production within two days. 
 
 'Talks call' 
 
 "Five terrorists were found still alive this morning," said the private Ennahar TV channel, quoted by AFP news agency. 
 
 The agency said residents of the nearby town of In Amenas were staying indoors, amid rumours that the army operation to end the siege was not over. 
 
 Algerian Communications Minister Mohammed Said said earlier that the militants were from six different countries, "nationals of Arab and African countries, and of non-African countries". 
 
 Mr Said added that a final death toll would be released in the coming hours. 
 
 Mauritanian website Sahara Media says Mokhtar Belmokhtar, the suspected organiser of the siege, has claimed responsibility for it in a video message. 
 
 The four-day siege 16 January: Militants attack two buses carrying In Amenas workers, killing two 
 
 They then go on to the gas facility's living quarters and main installation, seizing hostages 
 
 Some gas workers manage to escape 
 
 17 January: Algerian forces attack after the militants try to move their hostages in five 4x4s - four of the vehicles are destroyed in an air strike and an unknown number of hostages killed 
 
 18 January: Stalemate as Algerian forces surround the gas plant where the remaining hostages are held 
 
 19 January: Algerian forces launch a final assault after reports that the hostage-takers were killing their captives 
 
 20 January: Algeria says death toll of 32 hostage-takers and at least 23 captives is likely to rise Q&A: Hostage crisis 
 
 The website said the video - recorded on 17 January while the siege was still going on but not posted on the website - showed the militant leader saying he was prepared to negotiate with Western and Algerian leaders if operations against Islamists in Mali were stopped. 
 
 Three Britons are confirmed dead, and a further three are missing, feared dead. 
 
 UK officials were "working hard" to locate the missing, said Foreign Secretary William Hague. 
 
 "Everything seems to indicate" that a Colombian citizen resident in the UK is among the dead, the Colombian president has said. 
 
 But he added that information about Carlos Estrada, who worked for BP, was "not 100%". 
 
 Japanese officials said they had no confirmation of the fate of 10 nationals who remained unaccounted for, despite reports that nine had died. 
 
 Foreign Ministry spokesman Yoshihide Suga said a government aircraft would be sent to bring home seven others who had survived. 
 
 You fear the worst, you can't put into words how bad you feel, it's something you never want to go through again Alan Wright, British hostage UK hostages speak of Algeria ordeal 
 
 Two Malaysians are unaccounted for, as are five Norwegians. 
 
 State news agency APS said 685 Algerian workers and 107 out of 132 foreigners working at the plant had been freed, citing interior ministry figures. 
 
 The nationalities of some of the hostages killed are still not known. 
 
 Well-planned assault 
 
 The crisis began on Wednesday when militants attacked two buses carrying foreign workers to the remote site in south-eastern Algeria. A Briton and an Algerian reportedly died in the incident. 
 
 The militants then took Algerians and expatriates hostage at the complex, which was quickly surrounded by the Algerian army. 
 
 A statement from the kidnappers said the assault on the gas plant was launched in retaliation for French intervention against Islamist groups in neighbouring Mali. 
 
 However, France only decided last week to intervene militarily in Mali. Analysts say the assault on the gas facility was well-planned and would have required advance research, as well as possibly inside help. 
 
 The leader of the hostage-takers was a veteran fighter from Niger, named as Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, which had been in contact with the militants. ||||| CLOSE The bloody three-day hostage standoff at a Sahara natural gas plant took a dramatic turn Friday as Algeria's state news service reported that nearly 100 of the 132 foreign workers kidnapped by Islamic militants had been freed. (Jan. 18) AP 
 
 Algerian state press agency says 100 of 132 foreigners have been freed 
 
 This Oct 8 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the Amenas Gas Field in Algeria. (Photo: DigitalGlobe via AP) Story Highlights Terrorists holding hostages in heart of sprawling gas facility 
 
 Algerian military raid killed several terrorists but did not end siege 
 
 U.S. plane lands in Algeria to pick up Americans, Reuters reports 
 
 An American is among at least 12 Algerians and foreigners who are known dead from the terrorist takeover at a natural gas facility in eastern Algeria, the state Algerian Press Service and U.S. officials said Friday. 
 
 Al-Qaeda-linked terrorists continued to hold as many as seven hostages, according to API. U.S. officials told the Associated Press that an American died in the hostage standoff: Texas resident Frederick Buttaccio. It is unclear how he died. 
 
 The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly on the matter, say Buttaccio's remains have been recovered and his family has been notified. 
 
 The Algerian news service, noting that its figures are "provisional," said 18 of the kidnappers were also "put out of action." 
 
 Reports of casualties -- and even the number of hostages involved -- have fluctuated wildly since more than a dozen al-Qaeda-linked terrorists attacked the remote desert facility on Wednesday, taking scores of Algerian and foreign hostages. 
 
 APS reported earlier Friday that Algerian soldiers freed 573 Algerians and nearly 100 of the 132 non-Algerians in Thursday's raid at the Ain Amenas plant, 800 miles south of Algiers, the capital. 
 
 Even with the latest report, however, it remains unclear how many foreign workers died in the raid or of what nationality, and how many escaped the facility. 
 
 Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday that she spoke with Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal for the third straight day for an update on the "very difficult situation" and "to underscore again that the utmost care must be taken to preserve innocent life." 
 
 Earlier Friday, leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group that took over the plant said it wanted to trade the American hostages it held for two convicted terrorists being held in U.S. jails, Mauritania's ANI news agency reported Friday. 
 
 The terrorists say they want the release of Egyptian Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Pakistani Aafia Siddiqui and plan to release a video outlining the offer, according to the news agency, which often reports news from North African extremists. 
 
 The 74-year-old Abdel-Rahman, also known as the "Blind Sheikh," is serving a life sentence in North Carolina as the mastermind of the1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. 
 
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 Siddiqui, a 40-year-old scientist, was sentenced in 2010 to 86 years in U.S. prison for assault with intent to murder for shooting at two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan during her detention in 2008. 
 
 Asked to comment on hostage takers demands, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: "The United States does not negotiate with terrorists. We're obviously in consultation with the Algerians." 
 
 LIVE COVERAGE: Freed Algerian hostages debriefed 
 
 The Algerian special forces who carried out the raid killed up to 20 hostage-takers, members of an Islamic group known as Qatiba, which translates as Signers in Blood. The forces have surrounded a portion of the facility where more terrorists and some hostages remain, provincial administration sources told APS. 
 
 STORY: 'Signers in Blood' shares same goal as al-Qaeda 
 
 The military was still trying to reach a "peaceful settlement" before "neutralizing" the terrorist group, security sources told APS. 
 
 Workers at the facility included citizens of Britain, Ireland, Japan, Netherlands and the United States British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday during an address to members of parliament that efforts to free the hostages without violence are continuing. 
 
 A U.S. official said late Thursday that while some Americans escaped, other Americans remained either held or unaccounted for, the Associated Press reported. The official spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to discuss the matter publicly. 
 
 Earlier Friday, the Reuters news agency, citing local sources, reported that a U.S. plane has landed in Algeria to pick up Americans caught up in the crisis. Reuters also reported that U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, speaking to security specialists in London on Friday, said "Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary, no refuge, not in Algeria, not in North Africa, not anywhere." 
 
 Cameron and others complained that Algeria went ahead with its raid without alerting Western leaders they were planning an attack. 
 
 Reuters, citing an Algerian security source, is reporting that 30 hostages were killed in the assault, including several Westerners. 
 
 Members of the hostage-takers Qatiba have been in contact with the ANI news agency and told them that the raid by Algerian forces killed the ground leader of their group, Abou El Baraa. 
 
 Reuters, citing a Algerian security source, identified one one of the dead militants as Tahar Ben Cheneb, described as a "prominent commander in the region." 
 
 In all the chaos, it was not immediately clear if two militant leaders were killed, or whether the reports were referring to the same person by different names. 
 
 Qatiba was created in December by Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who broke off from the terror group al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to form his own operation. The kidnappers come from Algeria, Canada, Mali, Egypt, Niger and Mauritania, ANI said. 
 
 AQIM is operates out of nearby Mali, where it is fighting the Mali army and French forces to take over that country and impose an Islamic state. 
 
 A U.S. official said Thursday that while some Americans escaped from the complex, other Americans remained either held or unaccounted for. (Photo: Statoil via AFP/Getty Images) 
 
 Stephen McFaul, an Irish engineer who escaped, reported seeing Algerian forces attack Jeeps containing hostages who were being moved inside the complex, his brother told Reuters. Four vehicles blew up, and McFaul's vehicle crashed, allowing him to flee. 
 
 McFaul said the terrorsts hung explosives around the hostages' necks. 
 
 A French hostage tells Europe 1 radio that he hid under his bed for 40 hours before he was rescued by Algerian soldiers. 
 
 Alexandre Berceraux, an employee of CIS Catering at the desert gas complex, said the initial attack by militants caught everyone by surprise. 
 
 "I heard an enormous amount of gunfire. The alarm telling us to stay where we were was going off. I didn't know if it was a drill or if it was real," he told Europe 1. "Nobody expected this. The site was protected. There were soldiers in place." 
 
 The plant is jointly operated with British company BP and the Algerian state energy firm. British oil giant BP's Group Chief Executive Bob Dudley released a statement saying that "Sadly, there have been some reports of casualties, but we are still lacking any confirmed or reliable information." 
 
 White House spokesman Jay Carney said Thursday that U.S. officials were still gathering details. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton ordered a security review for diplomats, civilians and business across North Africa. 
 
 The Algerian military's handling of the hostage situation fits their overall approach to terrorists, says Geoff Porter of North Africa Risk Consulting, a political risk consultancy that specializes in North Africa. 
 
 "They don't negotiate with terrorists, and they don't pay ransoms," Porter said. 
 
 One of the reasons oil installations have never been attacked before is any attack would be a suicide mission, Porter said. The oil facilities are so remote and in such barren terrain, that attacks are doable, "but the Algerians would deploy helicopters and kill everybody," he said. 
 
 Escape would be impossible, but a suicide mission "becomes more feasible, which is what we saw today," Porter said. 
 
 In recent months, the United States has been courting Algeria; Clinton has twice visited Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. 
 
 Algerian leaders, however, have repeatedly warned against Western intervention in the region. Algeria warned that the NATO operation in Libya, which defeated former leader Moammar Gadhafi, would destabilize the region, and that the French intervention in Mali would do the same, Porter said. 
 
 "They (Algerians) are likely to feel vindicated, and to reject any criticism for their reaction to a domestic crisis they feel were brought about by Western actions they advised against," Porter said. 
 
 Algeria's priority is "to restore stability and deter future incidents," Porter said. 
 
 A Qatiba spokesman, pictured in a black turban and an automatic weapon in front of a jihadist flag, told Mauritanian news website Sahara Media Agency that the attack on the gas facility was in retaliation for Algeria's decision to allow French aircraft to use its airspace in its intervention in Mali. Experts doubted that, saying the attack must have been planned for a while, well before the French air assault that began only six days ago. 
 
 The United States military has a quick reaction force capable of deploying quickly to Algeria, according to a military official who declined to be named because they are not authorized to speak about the issue. The Pentagon also has "capabilities" to watch over the region, though officials would not specify whether that involves manned aircraft or drones. 
 
 Wednesday's attack began with the ambush of a bus carrying employees from the plant to the nearby airport but the attackers were driven off, according to the Algerian government, which said three vehicles of heavily armed men were involved. 
 
 "After their failed attempt, the terrorist group headed to the complex's living quarters and took a number of workers with foreign nationalities hostage," said the statement. 
 
 Al-Qaeda's influence in the poorly patrolled desert wastes of southern Algeria and northern Mali and Niger has grown. The group operates smuggling and kidnapping networks throughout the area. Militant groups that seized control of northern Mali already hold seven French hostages as well as four Algerian diplomats. 
 
 Algeria's security forces have struggled for years against Islamist extremists, and have in recent years managed to nearly snuff out violence by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (northwest Africa) around its home base in northern Algeria. In the meantime, AQIM moved its focus southward. 
 
 AQIM has made tens of millions of dollars off kidnapping in the region, abducting Algerian businessmen or political figures, and sometimes foreigners, for ransom. 
 
 Algerian leaders adopted an eradication policy against Islamist insurgents in a war that cost more than 100,000 lives. The insurgents eventually accepted amnesty and renounced violence. Remnants of the insurgency have been fighting for an Islamic state in northern Mali, Porter said. 
 
 All three AQIM factions in North Africa and the Sahara were "on a downward trend" until 2012, Porter said. The collapse of Libya, which allowed weapons from Gadhafi's vast arsenal to be seized by extremists, "helped them gain power in northern Mali and the group has transformed from 2011 and 2012," he said. 
 
 While not all the jihadi factions involved in violence across the region call themselves al-Qaeda or are officially affiliated with the group, their goals tend to be the same, Porter said. 
 
 "The goal is still spread radical Islam, attack the near enemy, attack the far enemy, create a sharia state — it's just no longer called al-Qaeda," he said. 
 
 Aaron Zelin, an analyst at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said that while al-Qaeda central is "probably the weakest it's ever been," the jihadist movement has adapted and has strengthened in North Africa. 
 
 "The central organization has been weakened, but the branches have gotten stronger because a lot of them are more embedded within the local milieu," he said. 
 
 In its new form, al-Qaeda and its jihadi affiliates and sympathizers are less able to launch attacks on the USA or Europe, where security is better than a decade ago, and more focused on "setting up little emirates" and threatening U.S. and Western interests in their own countries, Zelin said. 
 
 "They want to bleed the U.S. and its allies dry and exhaust them over a long period of time," he said. 
 
 Contributing: Jim Michaels; John Bacon; Michael Winter; Kim Hjelmgaard 
 
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– The hostages weren't the only Westerners involved in the Sahara gas plant crisis, according to Algerian authorities. Security sources say two Canadian Islamists were among the attackers found dead after the crisis came to a bloody end, Reuters reports. Authorities say the militants, who claimed the attack on behalf of al-Qaeda, included people from other African and Arab countries. At least 37 foreign hostages, hailing from eight different countries, died during the raid, Algeria's prime minister announced today, according to the New York Times. Five more remain unaccounted for. Among the dead are at least two Americans, the AP reports; seven other Americans made it to safety. Twenty-nine militants were also killed in the attack.