Three British nationals have died and three more are feared dead following the Algerian hostage crisis, UK Prime Minister David Cameron said today.

Algerian special forces launched a rescue operation yesterday at a natural gas plant in the Sahara Desert and freed foreign hostages held by al Qaeda linked militants, but estimates for the number of dead varied wildly from four to dozens.

Nigeria, Algeria and Niger have signed an agreement to create a $10bn (€7.15bn) pipeline that would ship gas across the Saharan desert to Europe, Nigeria’s state oil company said today.