UPDATED 22:49 PM EST, January 17, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration appeared to be in the dark Thursday about a hostage situation at a natural gas plant in Algeria, where Algerian forces launched a military assault to free dozens of foreign hostages, including an unknown number of Americans, held by Islamist militants.
An administration official said the U.S. was not aware of the raid to free the hostages in advance. The administration was offering no details about how many American hostages had been taken and whether they were still in captivity or even alive.
