British Foreign Office says hostage crisis in Algeria 'remains ongoing'

This Oct. 8, 2012 satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, which is jointly operated by BP and Norway's Statoil and Algeria's Sonatrach. Algerian special forces launched a rescue operation Thursday at the plant in the Sahara Desert and freed foreign hostages held by al-Qaida-linked militants, but estimates for the number of dead varied wildly from four to dozens. (AP Photo/DigitalGlobe) (The Associated Press)

Statoil's CEO Helge Lund, arrives to meet at the centre for relatives to the hostages in Algeria, which has been established near the airport, in Bergen, Norway, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Algerian forces launched a military assault Thursday at a natural gas plant in the Sahara Desert, trying to free dozens of foreign hostages held by militants who have ties to Mali's rebel Islamists, diplomats and an Algerian security official said. Yet information on the Algerian operation varied wildly and the conflicting reports that emerged from the remote area were impossible to verify independently (AP Photo/Hakon Mosvold /NTB Scanpix) NORWAY OUT (The Associated Press)

Algerian men look at national newspapers headlining the terrorist attack and kidnapping in Amenas at a news stand in Algiers, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013. Algerian forces raided a remote Sahara gas plant on Thursday in an attempt to free dozens of foreign hostages held by militants with ties to Mali’s rebel Islamists, diplomats and an Algerian security official said. Information on the Algerian assault in the remote area was wildly varying _ Islamic militants claimed that 35 hostages and 15 militants died in a strafing by Algerian helicopters, while Algeria’s official news service claimed hundreds of local workers and half the foreigners were rescued. (AP Photo/Ouahab Hebbat) (The Associated Press)