ALGIERS, Algeria – As Algerian army helicopters clattered overheard deep in the Sahara desert, Islamist militants hunkered down for the night in a natural gas complex they had assaulted Wednesday morning, killing two people and taking dozens of foreigners hostage in what could be the first spillover from France's intervention in Mali.

The Algerian army has surrounded the complex and about 1,000 miles from the coast, there is no obvious way for the kidnappers to escape in their four wheel drive vehicles with their hostages.

A militant group claimed responsibility for the rare attack on one of oil-rich Algeria's energy facilities, saying it came in revenge for the North African nation's support for France's military operation against al-Qaida-linked rebels in neighboring Mali. The militants said they were holding 41 foreigners from the energy complex, including seven Americans.