At Least Three Japanese Hostages in Algerian Gas Plant, Japanese PM Abe Protests the Use of Force by Algerial Military

(UPDATE) From Reuters, 30 hostages and 11 "Islamic militants" (aren't they terrorists?) reported dead. Dead hostages include 2 Japanese, 2 Britons, and a French.

According to Yomiuri, there were 17 Japanese from Nikki, a plant engineering company.

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Conflicting information on what's unfolding in Algeria:

• New York Times says "at least four hostages freed";

• Reuters says "twenty-five were freed and six were killed";

• Al Jazeera (quoted in Reuters article) says "34 of the captives and 15 of their captors had been killed".

The Guardian has the live update. The military operation to free the hostages has ended, according to the Guardian.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo pork-cutlet-over-curry-rice Abe called the Algerian counterpart to tell him to stop military operation, according to Yomiuri Shinbun (1/17/2013):

安倍首相は１７日深夜（日本時間１８日未明）、アルジェリアのセラル首相と緊急電話会談を行い、「人命最優先での対応を申し入れていたが、人質の生命を危険にさらす行動を強く懸念している。厳に控えていただきたい」と抗議、軍事行動の即時中止を求めた。

Prime Minister Abe made an emergency telephone call to Algerian Prime Minister Sellal, and protested, "We have requested that the human lives come first, and now we are worried that your action will endanger the lives of the hostages. I want you to stop immediately."

セラル首相は「危険なテロ集団で、これ（軍事行動）が最善だ」と述べた。一方、アルジェリアに到着した外務省の城内実政務官も１７日午後（日本時間１７日夜）、同国のメデルチ外相と会談し、同様の要請をした。

Prime Minister Sellal answered, "They are a dangerous terrorist group, and this (military action) is the best course of action." Parliamentary Secretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs Minoru Kiuchi arrived in Algeria, and met with Algerian Foreign Minister Medelci to make a similar request.

PM Abe wants to ditch the Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution so that he can send his "military" (SDF) to war zones to succor his allies. In hostage-taking situations like this, the Japanese government under LDP has always insisted that the situations be resolved in a peaceful manner.

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