Due to the reinforcement of the Malian Army by the French to fight African Al-Qaida terrorists, aligned militants in Algeria raided a natural gas plant in the desert and took 45 foreigners hostage. They freed all women and those that were Muslims, but kept most of the Algerian male workers separated from the foreigners. The Algerian Govt. did not consult the EU or US over the hostage rescue plan and instead mounted a confused military operation that killed possibly up to 35 of the hostages that were in two vehicles hit by Algerian Army helos with missiles. The botched rescue operation claimed more lives than the French one that preceded it in Southern Africa. In that raid, the French lost the single hostage AND one soldier killed, one taken captive. The Algerian mess has claimed up to 35 of the 45 held with status and identifications proceeding very slowly. All the cross-training, Intel sharing, and cooperation in the fight against terror in Africa has failed. The US wasted the last 8 mos working with African nations to counter terror atatcks only to see France and Algeria unravel everything in a week!