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| Alex Salmond confirms Scots are among hostages in Algeria | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A number of Scots are among some 20 foreign nationals who have been taken prisoner by Islamist militants in Algeria, Alex Salmond has confirmed. | A number of Scots are among some 20 foreign nationals who have been taken prisoner by Islamist militants in Algeria, Alex Salmond has confirmed. |
| The first minister informed the Scottish Parliament after speaking to Prime Minister David Cameron. | |
| Militants occupied the complex, near In Amenas, on Wednesday after killing a Briton and an Algerian. | |
| They claim to have 41 hostages. French, British, US, Japanese and Norwegian nationals are among the captives. | |
| Speaking at First Minister's Questions on Thursday, Mr Salmond told MSPs: "The chamber will know that a terrorist group has seized BP's Statoil facility in the Algerian Sahara. | |
| 'Families informed' | |
| "Citizens of a number of nationalities are involved, including UK citizens. I can confirm to the chamber a number of Scots are among the hostages. | |
| "The UK government reports that one UK national has been killed in the attack." | |
| Mr Salmond said that information was limited "in the interests of the safety and security of the hostages". | |
| "The priority is their safety and, of course, to keep families informed," he said. | |
| "The Scottish Police Service is fully engaged with the Metropolitan Police Service in the latter, and Scottish government ministers are in contact with Foreign and Commonwealth officers on the former. | |
| "This is a hugely serious situation and I know that the whole chamber is united, both in condemnation of the attack and also in hoping for the early and safe release of the hostages." | |
| Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from Algeria say that a number of hostages - some 30 to 40 Algerians and 15 to 20 foreign nationals - have escaped from the militants. | |
| Elsewhere, the Scottish government said that ministers did not take part in the UK government's Cobra meetings on the situation, but were given information from the meetings. | |
| The UK Foreign Office would not confirm how many Scots were being held. A spokesman said no personal details or numbers involved were being made public. | |
| The In Amenas gas field and its facilities are operated by a joint venture of the Algerian national oil company Sonatrach, BP and Statoil. | |
| In its latest statement, BP said the incident was "continuing" and remained "unresolved and fragile" | |
| BP's chief executive, Bob Dudley, said: "BP's overriding priority is to do all we can to ensure the safety of our staff and to support their families during this anguishing time. | |
| "All our efforts are focussed on supporting the authorities to secure a peaceful resolution of the situation and the safe return of our colleagues, and all other workers being detained." |