Hesaidthe policelackedladders, flashbombs, and gasmaskswhentheyapproachedandtried to pry open the bus. "What was going through your mind? You had time to study the bus," he said.
Monday's account offered the first Algerian government narrative of the four-day standoff, from the moment of the attempted bus hijacking to the moment when the attackers began to prepare to explode bombs across the massive gas plant that sprawled over 5 square kilometers ( 2 square miles).