Al-Qaeda hostages die as SBS rescue fails

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Al-Qaeda hostages die as SBS rescue fails

British engineer 'shot by captors' in Nigeria

by Deborah Haynes, The Times, 9 March 2012



A British engineer and his Italian colleague abducted by Islamist terrorists were shot dead yesterday during a failed rescue mission involving British special forces.

Chris McManus, 28, below, and Franco Lamolinara are believed to have been killed by their captors before Special Boat Service commandos and Nigerian forces were able to seize them from Sokoto, a town in the North West of the country.

David Cameron, who authorised the rescue attempt, said: "We are still awaiting confirmation of the details, but the early indications are clear that both men were murdered by their captors before they could be rescued."

Italy appeared not to have been informed of the operation, according to Massimo D'Alema, a former prime minister of the country and head of the parliamentary committee that oversees the secret services.

It is understood that at least two of the three kidnappers, part of a group linked to al-Qaeda, were killed in a gunfight. President Jonathan of Nigeria said that those responsible for the men's deaths had been arrested.

The operation was launched because there was a fear that the men's lives were in imminent danger. A video released last December by a group calling itself "Al-Qaeda in the land beyond the Sahil" showed masked gunmen threatening to kill Mr McManus if their demands were not met.

His family said last night that they were devastated by his death. "We knew Chris was in an extremely dangerous situation. However, we knew that everything that could be done was being done," they said in a statement issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

The two men, who were working for an Italian building company, were taken hostage last May near the border with Niger.


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