I’ll never let him go abroad again, says McFaul’s son

The family of an Irishman held in the Algerian hostage crisis hope he may be home as soon as today.

Father-of-two Stephen McFaul, 36, from Belfast, made contact with his wife Angela at about 3pm to say he was safe and well.

It came as up to 35 people being held hostage by rebels at a gas plant in Algeria were killed in an air strike during an army-led operation to capture the facility.