Japan counts Algeria attack cost

Algerian oil minister Youcef Yousfi accompanies Japanese officials in a visit to the In Aménas gas plant.

Japanese vice foreign affairs minister Minuro Kiuchi led the delegation to the gas plant deep in the Sahara Desert where nearly 60 hostages were killed during the four-day siege.

Japan's government said at least nine Japanese citizens were killed while sources said 10 others were still missing in the plant, which is operated by Britain's BP, Norway's Statoil and Algeria's state energy company.

Japanese engineering firm JGC is one of the foreign companies operating in the plant near the border with Libya.

One of the worst international hostage crises in decades, the attack left American, British, French, Japanese, Norwegian and Romanian workers dead or missing.

A security source said six militants were captured alive and troops were still searching for others.

One-eyed veteran Islamist fighter Mokhtar Belmokhtar claimed responsibility on Sunday for the attack on behalf of al Qaeda.