OTTAWA — Foreign Affairs does not believe there are any Canadians among the hostages taken by Islamist terrorists at an Algerian natural gas plant Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Chrystiane Roy said officials are monitoring developments in the area where the hostage-taking took place, near Algeria's desert border with Libya.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with the hostages' families, regardless of nationality,” she said.
Concern about any Canadians there comes after Algeria's government spokesman was quoted as saying several hostages and terrorists had died in a military operation at the gas plant on Thursday.

There are conflicting reports about how many hostages have been killed and how many were rescued or managed to escape.

Al-Qaida-linked terrorists initially said they were holding 41 foreign hostages in the remote Algerian desert.

They demanded France stop fighting Islamists in neighbouring Mali.

— with files from Reuters