The death toll rose to two from the attack targeting gas processing facility, operated by the national hydrocarbon company Sonatrach and Foreign companies, namely British Petroleum and Statoil, in Tigantourine, 40 km from In Amenas, the source added.

Six people were wounded (two foreigners, two gendarmes and two security agents), and are receiving the necessary medical care in the hospital of In Amenas.

"A terrorist group, heavily armed, arrived on three vehicles, entered Wednesday at 5 a.m. (Algerian time), Sonatrach’s residential camp in Tigantourine, near In-Amenas, about hundred kilometers from the Algerian-Libyan borders," the ministry of the Interior and Local Authorities said in a statement.

"The attack targeted first a bus which was leaving the residential camp carrying foreigners to In-Amenas airport," the statement added.

"The terrorist group, after this failed attempt, led to the residential camp, besieging a part of it, then captured an undetermined number of workers, including foreigners,” according to the statement.

"People’s National Army forces (ANP) and security services arrived on the scene and immediately took all measures to secure the region and find a quick solution to this situation, which is closely followed by the authorities," the statement said.

An emergency committee has been formed, chaired by the governor of Illizi, Mohamed Laid Khelfi, and made up of the representatives of security services.

Pumping gas stopped at the gas complex, following the terrorist attack, according to a source close to the facility.