ALGIERS, Jan 19 (Reuters) - The field commander of theIslamist group that attacked a gas plant in the Algerian desertthis week and seized many hostages is a veteran fighter fromNiger called Abdul Rahman al-Nigeri, Mauritanian news agenciesreported.
Nigeri is said to be close to the overall commander of thekidnappers, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, a veteran of fighting inAfghanistan in the 1980s and Algeria's civil war of the 1990swho now has links with al Qaeda in the region.
Belmokhtar appears not to have been present during the raid,which led to the deaths of an unspecified number of hostages.More than 20 foreigners were still missing or being held captivein the industrial gas plant on Saturday.
Nigeri was reported to be holed up in the plant near thetown of In Amenas and holding seven hostages, according to theMauritanian reports carried by the SITE monitoring service.
Another of the group's leaders, Abu al-Bara'a al-Jaza'iri,had been killed at the gas field's residential complex, whichhas been retaken by the Algerian army, according to the ANI newsagency.
Mauritanian news agencies have maintained contacts withIslamist groups in the region.
Nigeri joined the hardline Salafist Group for Preaching andCombat (GSPC) in 2005 and participated in several of its "major"missions in Mali, Mauritania and Niger, including a June 2005attack on a barracks in Mauritania where 17 soldiers werekilled, the reports said.