Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika welcomes the Emir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Djaber al-Sabah at the Djenane El Mufti residence in Algiers, on January 14, 2013.
Louafi Larbi / Reuters
Smoke rises above following demining operations at the In Amenas gas plant January 20, 2013. Algeria said on Sunday it expected heavy hostage casualties after its troops ended a desert siege, but Western governments warned against criticising tactics used by their vital ally in the struggle with Islamists across the Sahara.
Pekka Laakso / Lehitukuva / AP
The cargo ship, the Arctic Sea, is seen in Kotka, Finland. The Maltese-flagged ship was supposed to make port in Algeria on Aug. 4, 2009
Marine photo
Japanese paratrooper escorts volunteers during evacuation drill in Thailand in 2012. A similar exercise this weekend took on greater meaning after 10 Japanese citizens were killed in a terror attack in Algeria last month.
AP / DigitalGlobe
A satellite image provided by DigitalGlobe shows the Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, which is jointly operated by BP and Norway's Statoil and Algeria's Sonatrach.
AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta pauses during a news conference in Rome, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013. Panetta confirmed that American citizens are among the hostages taken by an Al Qaeda-linked group that seized a gas field in Algeria, calling the action a "terrorist attack."
Digital Globe / Handout / Reuters
The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012.
DigitalGlobe
The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012.
DigitalGlobe / Getty Images
The Amenas Gas Field in Algeria, Oct. 8, 2012. <br><br> Editor's Note: An earlier image transmitted by DigitalGlobe, published on TIME.com, misidentified the town of Amenas, Algeria, as the Amenas Gas Field where hostages are being held.
KJETIL ALSVIK / HANDOUT / EPA
An undated handout photo provided by Norwegian oil company Statoil showing the gas facility in In Amenas, Algeria.
AP
Algerian soccer fans celebrate after Algeria defeated Egypt in a World Cup 2010 qualifying match
Stephane Ruet / Sygma / Corbis
Trappist monks from the Tibhirine monastery in the Atlas region of Algeria, whose execution in 1996 was blamed on the GIA
REMY DE LA MAUVINIERE/AP
DETESTED DUO: Villepin and Chirac on a visit to Algeria earlier this year
Ben Curtis / AP
An Egyptian soccer fan ignites a canister of insect spray as he and others celebrate Egypt's 2-0 win over Algeria in the Mohandessin district of Cairo on Nov. 14, 2009
Algerie Presse Service / epa / Corbis
Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Youcef Yousfi speaks with a former hostage from philippines, at the clinic Algiers Al Azhar, in Algiers, Algeria, on Jan. 18, 2013.
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