ALGIERS, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Algeria's Tiguentourine gasplant resumed some production on Sunday, more than a month afterdozens of foreign workers were killed in an Islamist attackthere, the head of the state energy firm Sonatrach told stateradio.
The gas facility operated by BP in partnership withNorway's Statoil and Sonatrach had been closed sincegunmen attacked it on Jan. 15 and seized hundreds of hostagesbefore the army stormed in four days later.
"It is a partial resuming of production ... we will get 3billion cubic metres per year," Sonatrach chief executiveAbdelhamid Zerguine was quoted as saying.
The plant produces about 9 billion cubic metres per year ofgas, about 11.5 percent of the country's annual total.
Algeria is a top energy supplier of gas to Europe, and a keyU.S. ally in its fight against al Qaeda in the Sahel region ofnorth Africa.
The attack on the plant was led by rebels loyal to senior alQaeda member Mokhtar Belmokhtar. Some 37 foreign hostages, and29 rebels were killed during the assault on the plant 50 km fromthe town of In Amenas, near the Libyan border.
When journalists visited the site two weeks after theattack, the marks of hundreds of bullets and several grenadeblasts scarred the concrete walls of some of the single-storeyvillas where foreign employees lived, and where some had died.
Local workers in anti-contamination suits were stilllabouring on the clean-up operation.
A conflict in the 1990s between security forces and Islamistinsurgents, which killed an estimated 200,000 people, stillcasts a shadow over Algeria. The fighting started after themilitary-backed government annulled an election which hardlineIslamists were poised to win.
Violence has sharply diminished but a hardcore of militantsaffiliated to al Qaeda continue to strike in remote areas in thenorth of the country.
Twelve militants have been killed by government forcesduring the past 48 hours in the northern regions of Boumerdesand Chlef, a statement released by the Ministry of Defence said.
Some 160 insurgents have been killed in Algeria since June2012, including the 29 who launched the attack against the gasplant, a security source who asked not to be named told Reuters.
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