Julian Pecquet
The Hill ^[1]
Jan 19, 2013

One American has been killed in the three-day hostage crisis in Algeria, The Associated Press is reporting ^[2].

The remains of Frederick Buttaccio, a Texan, have been recovered and his family has been notified, U.S. officials told the wire service. It remains unclear when he was killed and whether any Americans remain captive.

Al Qaeda-linked militants said Wednesday they’d captured as many as seven Americans when they took over a natural-gas facility in the desert near the Libyan border. The Algerian government said its armed forces had rescued more than 600 hostages in a raid Thursday evening, but militants said air strikes had killed 35 of them, along with several of their captors.

The situation remained unresolved as of Friday afternoon, with reports that a handful of Islamists were still holed up with several hostages. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said earlier on Friday that Americans were still being held captive.

Full article here ^[1]