A number of hostages have reportedly managed to escape from the natural gas facility in Algeria where hostages from 10 countries have now been held for three days, while some were killed and injured during a raid by the Algerian military and still more remain unaccounted for. NBC's Michelle Kosinski reports.
By Ian Johnston and Tracy Connor, NBC News
The fate of foreign hostages still held in Algeria was a mystery Friday as the North African nation reportedly launched another raid to free remaining captives.
The second rescue attempt, announced on Algerian state television, came as the Islamic militants who laid siege to the In Amenas gas plant offered to swap two Americans for the release of a blind sheik jailed for terrorism in the U.S., a Mauritanian news agency reported.
It was unclear how many hostages at the compound were alive after dozens were freed during an initial rescue operation Thursday, which Algeria undertook without consulting the U.S., Britain, Japan or other countries whose nationals were kidnapped.
The official Algerian news agency cited a security source as saying 30 hostages, including seven Westerners, were killed during Thursday?s operation, according to Reuters. NBC News could not confirm that figure.
The brother of escapee Stephen McFaul painted a grim picture, telling Reuters the Algerian military bombed four Jeeps that were moving around hostages ? who had their mouths taped and their necks draped with explosives.
?The truck my brother was in crashed and at that stage Stephen was able to make a break for his freedom,? Brian McFaul said after speaking with his brother?s wife. ?He presumed everyone else in the other trucks was killed.?
McFaul family via Reuters
Belfast native Stephen McFaul (right) is pictured with his sons Dylan (left) and Jake in this family handout photo taken four years ago and made available Thursday.
An ex-hostage told Algerian TV that it was an ?exciting episode? and he was ?impressed? with the Algerian army.
"I feel sorry for anybody who has been hurt, but other than that, I quite enjoyed it," the man said.
Another told reporters he was ?very, very relieved to be out.?
?Obviously, we still don't really know what is happening back on the site, so as much as we are glad to be out, our thoughts are with colleagues who are still there at the moment,? he said.
A French catering employee who worked at the plant said he spent 40 hours hiding under a bed after the militants stormed in Wednesday with a spray of gunfire.
?I could see myself ending up in a wooden box,? Alexandre Berceaux told Europe 1 radio.
A 27-year-old radio operator who escaped said he passed the body of his boss as he ran away. ?We are very lucky, but the face of my French supervisor is still before my eyes,? he told Reuters.
Algerian news agency APS had reported that 573 Algerians and 77 foreigners had been freed since Wednesday, when extremists ambushed a bus full of workers and seized the plant, triggering a tense drama that reverberated from the Sahara to capitals around the world.
In a later update on Friday, APS said nearly 100 foreigners had been rescued, with at least 32 unaccounted for. Those figures could not be verified by NBC News.
It was unclear how many Americans were still being held. A total of five were at the plant when it was stormed by militants, U.S. sources told NBC News. Two managed to escape unharmed; the fate of the other three is unclear, the sources said.
Algerian state television said the military was staging a second raid on the compound in an attempt to rescue more hostages, but there were no details and the report could not be confirmed.
Algerian TV via Reuters TV
A British escapee, interviewed by Algerian TV, says the Algerian army did a "fantastic job" with Thursday's rescue.
The initial attack on the plant, operated in part by BP, was reportedly masterminded by Mokhtar bel Mokhtar, a one-eyed al-Qaida associate who specializes in lucrative kidnappings and smuggling, according to U.S. officials. He earned the nickname Mr. Marlboro for trafficking cigarettes.
Mauritanian news agency ANI reported that Bel Mokhtar on Friday offered to release two Americans in exchange for two terror figures imprisoned in the U.S.: Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who is serving life for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani scientist convicted of trying to kill U.S. soldiers after being arrested in Afghanistan in 2008.
The offer was not verified by NBC News, but an ANI editor told the Associated Press the kidnappers? spokesman began calling Thursday with ?sounds of war in the background? and ?threatened to kill all the hostages if the Algerian forces tried to liberate them.?
British Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons in London that Algeria maintains it green-lighted Thursday?s rescue raid because hostages? lives were in danger when it appeared the militants were trying to spirit them out of the compound.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said Friday the U.S. is in ?close consultations? with the Algerian government about the crisis.
?Terrorists should be on notice that they will find no sanctuary,? he said. ?No refuge. Not in Algeria. Not in North Africa. Not anywhere.?
NBCNews' Courtney Kube and Jim Miklaszewski, and?The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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