7 from Philippines dead in Algeria carnage

A seventh worker from the Philippines has been confirmed killed in last week’s siege by militants of a remote natural gas plant in Algeria, the foreign department in Manila said on Thursday. The remains were identified by his British employers, foreign affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez told a news conference. Manila on Monday said six Filipinos were killed and 12 survived the 72-hour hostage drama in the north African desert. “Most of them died of gunshot wounds and the effects of explosions,” Hernandez said, without naming the Filipino fatalities. Two other Filipinos remain missing while four more are in an Algerian hospital recovering from injuries sustained either during the raid or their subsequent rescue by Algerian security forces, Hernandez said. Algeria has said 37 foreigners of eight different nationalities and an Algerian were killed in the four-day siege, which ended on Saturday in a rescue operation by security forces who captured three of the assailants.