The kidnappers² occupied the complex at In Amenas on Wednesday, after killing³ a Briton and an Algerian in an attack on a bus.

 

Algeria says some 20 foreign nationals are being held hostage, although the kidnappers say they have 41.

 

The captives include British, Japanese, US, French and Norwegian nationals.

 

One statement purported⁴ to be from the hostage-takers demanded an end to the French military intervention⁵ against Islamist rebels in Mali.

 

Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said the militants wanted to leave the country with the hostages, but he had refused to let them go.

 

"We reject all negotiations⁶ with the group," he told reporters late on Wednesday.

 

Mr Kabila added that the kidnappers were Algerian and operating under orders from Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a senior commander of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) before late last year, when he set up his own armed group after apparently⁷ falling out with other leaders.

 

 

Mr Kabila said a heavily armed "terrorist group" had attacked a bus carrying workers from In Amenas at about 05:00 on Wednesday.

 

The gas field is operated by the Algerian state oil company, Sonatrach, along with the British oil company BP and Norway's Statoil.

 

It is located about 1,300km south-east of Algiers, and about 60km west of the Libyan border.

 

The attackers were repelled⁸ by police who had been escorting the bus, but a Briton and an Algerian national had been killed, Mr Kabila said. Two other British nationals, a Norwegian, two police officers and a security guard were also hurt in the fire fight, he added.

 

Afterwards, the militants drove to the gas facility's living quarters and took a number of Algerian and foreign workers hostage. 

 

Dozens of Algerian workers were later released. 

 

The foreign nationals were being held in one wing of the living quarters, which the security services and army had surrounded, Mr Kabila said.

 

"Since then, they've been facing off. The security forces are consolidating⁹ their position around the base," he added.

 

Early on Thursday, British Foreign Secretary William Hague confirmed that a Briton had died and that "a number" of others were being held hostage.

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