Several Western workers were taken hostage in Algeria by Islamists, at the Tigantourine gas plant facility raising the specter of the a regional war with Al-Qaeda in Maghred, which seems to be behind the attack. The leader of the movement is Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a rather shady character, coming out of a Tin Tin adventure story. An Algerian Army counter-attack produced several dozen dead and wounded, at least by what the rebels told a Mauritanian press agency. The news of the hostage crisis in In Amenas, Algeria rattled the world in the context of the French offensive against Islamist held territories in Mali. There was much confusion, however, about the location of the attack. This was close to In Amenas, Algeria (1000 miles south of Algiers and 600 miles south of Tripoli, Liby), but not quite that close to it. In fact, the location is about 30 miles west of In Amenas. It is also quite far from Mali, about 1000 miles and smack dab in the middle of the Sahara desert.
Zoom in and out to see the map better, all the way to the buildings in Tigantourine.
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