crime

Japan presses Algeria for answers as hostage death toll reaches 9

13 Comments

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It's a conundrum: how to 'annihilate' the armed-to-the-teeth terrorist while AT THE SAME TIME ensuring the safety of hostages...................................although it behooved Algeria to make a more concerted effort to at least 'buy time' until international agencies and experts could have assisted.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Investigate how they died? Isn't it obvioous?

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Yubaru : "investigating "cause' of death is proceedural - ANYWHERE .. . .................. .Moreover, perhaps also they want to see how some of these deaths/ and this kind of incident "could have been prevented'. ...............................Not only Jps companies but corporations from other countries have all kinds of investments/ factories/ etc, in not only Algeria, but other 'at-risk' place. ......................So it "investigating" is an important component .

1 ( +2 / -1 )

The reason for demarche is that the contents of the conversation cannot be published. The Algerians get one version which can later be denied and the general public another.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Even after they get all the answers that they are demanding about what happened, what do they plan to do? Give Algeria a stern warning to listen to what they say next time? What happened is terrible, but crying over spilled milk isn't going to accomplish anything. I'm tired of seeing this on every single channel whenever I look at the TV. Over 300 people (according to the previous article on statistics for last year) committed suicide in Japan during this 4 day siege. They were living within the country and not in a known Islamic terrorist zone. Where is their news coverage? This hostage issue is becoming another scapegoat to ignore problems at home.

5 ( +6 / -1 )

I'm not really sure what answers Japan expects that haven't already been out in the open since the Algerian Special Ops went in. It's clear they didn't do a very good job, but what's also clear is that the hostage takers were aiming to leave and head back to Mali WITH the hostages, who would surely have been killed after being bargained for. What would waiting have accomplished?

Having more defense attaches at Embassies is a good idea, but I'm not sure how that will help spur of the moment hostage situations at private companies.

“The use of violence cannot be tolerated for any reason."

Agree 100%, but try to keep in mind the terrorists were using violence, and that could not be met with smiles and hugs, or money. And let's hope you remember this statement later given the growing threat of violence between Japan and its neighbours.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Risk-vs-reward: Japanese people saw an opportunity to make a bundle of money by working in a dangerous country. The risk backfired. No more explanation needed.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

I thought the Japanese nationals were killed right on the onset of the takeover? If so, then even with total restraint on the Algerian military, they would still have been dead.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

they are going to fight Algeria now too

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Japan's experience of terrorism is weak, many people here do not understand why we don't discuss with these terrorists. It simply is not in their mind since they never had djihadists bomb in their subway, nor the japanese ever been a target of predilection.I guess they won't get much more from Algeria and finally understand by themselves that you do not negotiate with a miasm of obscurantism, you crush it before the hostage death toll increases.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

samwatters: "Risk-vs-reward: Japanese people saw an opportunity to make a bundle of money by working in a dangerous country. The risk backfired. No more explanation needed."

JSG, definitely, but there's a good chance a number of the Japanese workers weren't there by choice but were transferred, to be fair.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

" Tokyo’s willingness to consider increasing the number of defense attaches at Japanese embassies to strengthen the country’s ability to gather information"? Japan already posts police attaches for the same reason. They might as well assign fifty defence attaches to each embassy. If America's CIA could do nothing in this case, why does the Japanese government imagine that more defence attaches, who can barely speak English, let alone any North African dialect of Arabic, will be of any use? These would be staff officers who have obviously never faced fire. Japan has no commandos capable of intervening.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"JSG, definitely, but there's a good chance a number of the Japanese workers weren't there by choice but were transferred, to be fair."

You're probably right, Smith!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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