Algerians freed us at In Amenas

Hostages face their Islamist captors Tunisia – Azhar Jarboui After returning to his family in the southern Tunisian province of Tataouine, hostage Rachid al-Naili spoke exclusively to Arabstoday about fleeing the In Amenas gas station after being taken hostage by al-Qaeda-linked militants. The freed man talked about the circumstances of his detainment by the Signatories in Blood Brigade, led by Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri. An armed battalion attacked on Wednesday morning, firing shots using heavy weaponry. However al-Naili said he managed to escape along with a group of Algerian workers, after which he joined the Algerian authorities who had helped liberate them in the first place. Rafik al-Aouni, head of the Salafist Reform Front Party [Jabhat al-Islah], meanwhile condemned the French military intervention in northern Mali. Democracy should be “ashamed” of what al-Aouni called an act of “colonial oppression,” he said, stressing that foreign military intervention in Mali would only create more problems and crises in neighbouring countries.