An Algerian security official says de-mining squads... (Associated Press) 
 
 Algerian special forces stormed the plant on Saturday to end the four-day siege, moving in to thwart what government officials said was a plot by the Islamist militants to blow up the complex and kill all their hostages with mines sown throughout the site. The reports came a day after the Algerian authorities said all 32 hostage-takers had been killed at the In Amenas gas installation. Then, on Sunday, Algerian bomb squads sent in to blow up or defuse the explosives found 25 bodies, said the security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Officials said the army launched its assault after Islamist militants began killing foreign hostages. "Now, of course, people will ask questions about the Algerian response to these events, but I would just say that the responsibility for these deaths lies squarely with the terrorists who launched a vicious and cowardly attack," British Prime Minister David Cameron said. Three Britons are confirmed dead, and a further three are missing, feared dead. The militants initially said the operation was payback for French military intervention in neighboring Mali, where al-Qaida-linked rebels are on the march, but later they said it was two months in the planning, long before France sent in troops. The Masked Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack in the name of al-Qaida, according to a video obtained by a Mauritania-based website that sometimes carries messages of jihadists. But he added that information about Carlos Estrada, who worked for BP, was "not 100%". In another phone call, al-Nigiri said that half the militants had been killed by the Algerian army on Thursday and that he was ready to blow up the remaining hostages if security forces attacked again.
– Officials in Algeria have arrested five suspects in the Algerian gas-plant hostage crisis that left at least 81 people dead, report the BBC and AP. All five are members of an Islamist group, according to a private TV channel, and Algerian officials say each hailed from one of six different countries in Africa and the Arab world. A website in Mauritania claims that terrorist Mokhtar Belmokhtar is behind the attack, and recorded a video saying he would negotiate if operations were halted against Islamists in Mali. The death toll climbed to 81 today as Algerian forces scoured the refinery for explosives—but many bodies were so disfigured that troops couldn't identify them as militants or hostages. The militants "decided to succeed in the operation as planned, to blow up the gas complex and kill all the hostages" when troops launched a final assault to end the four-day siege, said an Algerian official.