( CNN ) -- After three days of chaos , drama and an unknown number of deaths , Algerian special forces troops were holding their fire Saturday in the hostage crisis at a gas facility in the nation 's remote eastern desert . Survivors described harrowing escapes from Islamic militants who attacked the site early Wednesday . Some invented disguises , others sneaked to safety with locals , and at least one ran for his life with plastic explosives strapped around his neck . Read more : Power struggle : The North African gas industry targeted by militants . Six Americans were freed or escaped , a U.S. official told CNN . The official provided no other information about their status or whereabouts . Other Americans were unaccounted for . Earlier Friday , State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said there were still American hostages . Yet others did n't make it -- either because they were killed or were still being held . Algerian troops staged a military offensive that some nations criticized as endangering the lives of the hostages . On Friday evening , they were trying a different tack , the state-run Algerian Press Service reported . `` The special forces ... are still seeking a peaceful settlement before neutralizing the terrorist group currently entrenched in the refinery , and free a group of hostages who are still detained , '' it said . It was not clear how many hostages were seized by the Islamist militants and how many were being held . Thursday 's military operation ended with 650 hostages -- including 100 foreigners -- freed , while at least 12 Algerian and foreign workers were killed , the Algerian Press Service reported in what it said was a `` provisional toll . '' In addition , 18 of the attackers were `` neutralized , '' APS said . The dead include one American , identified as Frederick Buttaccio , Nuland said , as well as one French and a Briton . At least 30 foreign workers were unaccounted for , according to the official media report . British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday that significantly fewer than 30 of his countrymen remained hostage . There could be as few as three Americans still being held , two U.S. officials said earlier this week . The fate of eight workers with Norway 's Statoil , some of them Norwegians , was unclear , the company said . The same was true for the 14 Japanese unaccounted for , Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters in Tokyo . And Malaysia 's state-run news agency , citing its foreign ministry , reported Thursday two of its citizens were held captive . A spokesman for Moktar Belmoktar , a veteran jihadist who leads the Brigade of the Masked Ones -- a militant group associated with al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- reportedly offered to free U.S. hostages in exchange for two prisoners . The prisoners are Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman , who orchestrated the 1993 World Trade Center bombing , and Aafia Siddiqui , a Pakistani woman jailed in the United States on terrorism charges , the spokesman said in an interview with a private Mauritanian news agency . Asked Friday about the offer , State Department spokeswoman Nuland rejected it , restating U.S. policy of not negotiating with terrorists . Opinion : Algeria situation is a wake-up call for the U.S. `` This is an act of terror , '' U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday . `` The terrorists ... are the ones who have assaulted this facility ( and took ) hostage Algerians and others ( from ) around the world who were going about their daily business . '' A dangerous escape . The incident began when the militants -- apparently angry about Algeria 's support in a rout of their comrades in neighboring Mali -- targeted the gas field , which is operated by Algeria 's state oil company in partnership with foreign companies . At the start of the siege , the militants gathered the Westerners into a group and tied them up , survivors said . The kidnappers were equipped with AK-47 rifles and put explosive-laden vests on some hostages , a U.S. State Department official said . Some escaped by disguising themselves , according to Regis Arnoux , who runs a catering firm at the site and had spoken with some of his 150 employees who were freed . He said they all were traumatized . Some Algerian hostages were free to walk around the site but not to leave , Arnoux said . Still , a number of them escaped , he said . As the Algerian military launched its operation Thursday , the militants moved some hostages , according to one survivor 's account . With plastic explosives strapped around their necks , these captives were blindfolded and gagged before being loaded into five Jeeps , according to the brother of former hostage Stephen McFaul . McFaul , with the explosives still around his neck , escaped after the vehicle he was in -- one of several targeted by Algerian fighters -- crashed , his brother said from Belfast , Northern Ireland . `` I have n't seen my mother move as fast in all my life , and my mother smile as much , hugging each other , '' Brian McFaul said upon his family hearing his brother was safe . `` ... You could n't describe the feeling . '' McFaul said the other four Jeeps were `` wiped out '' in an explosion , and his brother believed the hostages inside did not survive . Nations mobilize to help citizens caught up in crisis . U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta , speaking in London , said the United States was working round the clock to ensure the safe return of its citizens . Those freed include some Americans , while other U.S. nationals were unaccounted for , U.S. officials said . The United States was evacuating 10 to 20 people caught up in the crisis , a U.S. defense official told CNN on Friday . They were to be taken to U.S. facilities in Europe , where their condition would be assessed , the official said . Britain has sent trauma experts and consular affairs officers who can issue emergency passports to a location about 450 kilometers ( 280 miles ) away from the plant , a Foreign Office official said , so they 'll be `` as close '' as possible to the scene . BP , which helps operate the gas field , said Friday that a `` small number of BP employees '' were unaccounted for . The same held for some workers with Statoil , though nine others with the company -- including five who escaped -- were safe . Four Norwegians and a Canadian with that oil firm were in an airport hotel in Bergen , Norway , after being taken from Algeria , Statoil spokeswoman Sissel Rinde said . Both BP and Statoil -- two of the foreign companies with In Amenas operations -- were pulling their personnel out of Algeria , which is Africa 's largest natural gas producer and a major supplier of natural gas to Europe . BP said it had flown 11 of its employees and several hundred staffers from other companies out of the North African country Thursday and was planning another flight Friday . Mark Cobb , a Texan who has a LinkedIn profile identifying him as general manager for a BP joint venture out of In Amenas , said he had escaped on the first day and was safe . A U.S. military C-130 plane flew 12 people who were wounded in the ordeal out of Algeria on Friday , a U.S. defense official said . None of them were Americans , though efforts continue to evacuate freed Americans . Three workers for a Japanese engineering company that was working on the site have been contacted and are safe , said Takeshi Endo , a senior manager for JGC Corp . But the company had not been able to contact 14 others , he said . France 's foreign ministry said that , in addition to one death , three of its citizens were rescued . Japan 'terribly disappointed ' in Algerian military operation . Algeria faces tough questions from governments of the kidnapped nationals over its handling of the crisis . Neither the United States nor Britain , for instance , was told in advance about Algeria 's military operation Thursday . Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said his nation 's officials had urged Algeria 's government to avoid exposing hostages to danger . `` We are terribly disappointed about the Algerians ' military operation , '' Suga said . Japanese Vice Minister Shunichi Suzuki summoned Algeria 's ambassador Friday to express Tokyo 's concern . U.S. officials made a similar plea to the Algerians , urging them to be cautious and make the hostages ' safety their priority , an official in President Barack Obama 's administration said . A senior U.S. official said American officials did not trust information they got from the Algerians , `` because we hear one thing and then we hear something else . '' But Algeria acted out of a sense of urgency after noticing hostages being moved toward `` a neighboring country , '' where kidnappers could use them `` as a means of blackmail with criminal intent , '' Communications Minister Mohamed Said told state television . Algerian troops fired on at least two SUVs trying to leave the facility , Algerian radio said . And a reporter saw clashes near the site , according to the Algerian Press Service and radio reports . `` There were a number of dead and injured , we do n't have a final figure , '' the communications minister said of casualties after the operation . Belmoktar , the man behind the group claiming responsibility for the attack and kidnappings , is known for seizing hostages . French counterterrorism forces have long targeted Belmoktar , an Algerian who lost an eye fighting in Afghanistan in his teens . Libyan sources said he spent several months in Libya in 2011 , exploring cooperation with local jihadist groups and securing weapons . The militants said they carried out the operation because Algeria allowed French forces to use its airspace in attacking Islamist militants in Mali . Media in the region reported the attackers issued a statement demanding an end to `` brutal aggression on our people in Mali '' and cited `` blatant intervention of the French crusader forces in Mali . '' Latest on the Mali situation . French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said the Algerian hostage situation `` confirms the gravity of the terrorist threat and the necessity to fight it with a determined and united front . '' That sentiment was echoed by Clinton , the top U.S. diplomat . She stressed the need for a concerted , international effort to address terrorist and other threats around Africa . `` It is absolutely essential that , while we work to resolve this particular terrible situation , we continue to broaden and deepen our counterterrorism cooperation , '' she said Friday . `` It is not only cooperation with Algeria , it is international cooperation against a common threat . '' CNN 's Barbara Starr , Laura Smith-Spark , Mike Mount , Joe Sutton , Elwyn Lopez , Frederik Pleitgen , Dan Rivers , Mitra Mobasherat , Saskya Vandoorne , Laura Perez Maestro , Junko Ogura , Dheepthi Namasivayam , Saad Abedine , Elise Labott and Tim Lister contributed to this report , as did journalists Peter Taggart from Belfast and Said Ben Ali from Algiers .
NEW : 6 Americans are freed or escaped , State Department says . Algeria says 12 hostages were killed in the wake of a military operation . Terrorists are `` entrenched '' in a gas refinery with captives , APS says . The U.S. rejects a reported prisoner exchange offer voiced by a jihadist spokesman .