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The death toll from a four-day siege at an Algerian gas plant has risen to at least 81, with nine Japanese nationals reported to have been killed.

They died in an attack claimed by a veteran Islamist fighter on behalf of al-Qaeda.  

 

The Algerian prime minister, Abdelmalek Sellal, is expected to give details at a news conference on Monday about one of the worst international hostage crises in decades, which left British, American, French, Japanese, Norwegian and Romanian workers dead or missing.

A security source said on Sunday that Algerian troops had found the bodies of 25 hostages, raising the total number of hostages killed to 48 and the total number of deaths to at least 80. He said six militants were captured alive and troops were searching for others.

That number climbed further on Monday when a Japanese government source said the Algerian government had informed Tokyo that nine Japanese had been killed, the biggest toll so far among foreigners at the plant.

Veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility for the attack on behalf of al-Qaeda.

"We in al-Qaeda announce this blessed operation," he said in a video, according to Sahara Media, a regional website. He said about 40 attackers participated in the raid, roughly matching the government's figures for fighters killed and captured.

The fighters came out of the desert and seized the base on Wednesday, capturing a plant that produces 10% of Algeria's natural gas exports, and residential barracks nearby.

They demanded an end to French air strikes against Islamist fighters in neighbouring Mali that had begun five days earlier. However, US and European officials doubt such a complex raid could have been organised quickly enough to have been conceived as a direct response to the French military intervention.

David Cameron has warned that the fight against terrorism in north Africa could last for decades as he confirmed that six Britons and a British resident were believed to have died.

The prime minister said the seizure of a Saharan gas facility by a group of international jihadists was a stark reminder of the threat from terrorism the world over. He pledged a global response to what he described as a global threat.

"It will require a response that is about years, even decades, rather than months," Cameron said. "Tragically, we now know that three British nationals have been killed, and a further three are believed to be dead. And a further British resident is also dead."

He said the "whole country" would join him in sending condolences to the victims' families.

M&G