360 hortages freed by Algerian special force

Report: 650 hostages freed by Algerian special forces UPDATED: Jan 18, 2013 15:15 GMT Algerian special forces havefreed 650 hostages from Islamist militants who seized a gas complex deep in the desert, Algerian state mediasaid Friday, but the fate of some foreign workers remains unclear. Of those taken hostage Wednesday, 573 were Algerians, according to the state-run Algerian Press Service news agency. It said"over half" of the 132 foreign workers held in the hostage crisis have been freed, according to a provisional count. CNN has not independently confirmed the APS report. Details of the total number of hostages seized at the InAmenas installation and theirnationalities are still not clear. Some foreign workers have sought refuge in various parts of the Saharan site, APS cited a security source as saying. The special forces are still trying to reach a "peaceful ending," the source told APS, before "neutralizing" the terrorist group. The group is made up of about 30 militants of different nationalities, security sources told the news agency. The remote gas field, about 60 kilometers (37 miles) west of the Libyan border and 1,300 kilometers (about 800 miles) from the Algerian capital, Algiers, is run by Algerian state oil company Sonatrach in partnership with Britain's BP and Norway's Statoil. State-run Algerian Radio earlier cited an official source as saying that a major military raid launched Thursday was over but thatthere was "ongoing activity at various locations" near the plant. British Prime Minister David Cameron said Friday morning that the Algerians were still pursuing terrorists and possibly hostages at the large and complex site. The number of Britons unaccounted for is"significantly" fewer than 30, he told the House of Commons, but he declined togive an exact number because of the fluidity of thesituation