[wretchard]

The French are saying there was no gun battle -- and no rescue. Only ransom money paid.

PARIS - The 17 European hostages liberated Tuesday in the Algerian Sahara from alleged Islamic terrorists came free after a ransom was paid, not as a result of an assault by the Algerian army, Radio France Internationale (RFI) reported Friday.

Citing "authorized Algerian and Swiss sources", RFI said that several millions of dollars in ransom was paid to free the hostages; 10 Austrians, six Germans and one Swedish national.

Algerian media and the Algerian army had declared that the hostages were freed after a pitched battle with at least 10 kidnappers armed with Kalashnikovs.

Who knows?

[Michael81Dus]

We have to differentiate between the first group of hostages (17) who were freed last week, and the last group of 15 hostages, who were reportedly liberated today.

In both cases, sources report gun battles.

[liberallyconservative]

Although the thought of a gun battle is dreadful, it is preferable to the endless possibilities for further terror that the 'several millions of dollars' is sure to finance.