Algeria terrorists sought to take Russia specialists hostage

Looks like leaving Al Qaeda alone has really paid off for Russia.

An Al Qaeda linked group recently attacked a convoy of vehicles that was returning from working on oil pipe lines.

Itar-Tass reported --

RABAT, March 4 (Itar-Tass) - Terrorists who attacked Russian specialists in Algeria on Saturday tried to take them hostage, the Algerian newspaper El Khabar reported on Monday.

Four people, including one Russian national and three Algerians, were killed in the attack. According to the newspaper, six more people, including a Russian national and two Ukrainians, were injured.

A car convoy with specialists of the Russian Stroitransgaz Company, engaged in building the Souguer-Hadjret en Nouss gas pipeline to the heat and power station in the city of Hadjret en Nouss, were attacked on Saturday evening. The convoy was accompanied by Algerian police.

Vehicles, carrying 21 Russian specialists back from the work site to their camp, hit a mine on the highway 130 kilometres south-west of the Algerian capital.

The blast was so strong, that the minibus was literally thrown several meters off the road. After that extremists opened fire and tried to take staffers of the Russian company hostage.

In the opinion of analysts, the Salafi Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), the largest
radical organization in Algeria, is responsible for the terrorist act.

The group proclaimed its affiliation to Al Qaeda last September and changed its name into the Al Qaeda Organization in the Islamic Maghrib.