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January 23, 2013 - 8:55 AM
OTTAWA - Prime Minister Stephen Harper says Canada still has no substantial information from the Algerian government to confirm claims that Canadians were among the al-Qaida linked terrorists who took hostages at an isolated energy plant.
Harper says Canadian officials are trying to get information from their Algerian counterparts.
The Foreign Affairs Department has called in Algeria's ambassador to Canada to explain why the country's prime minister labelled some of the hostage-takers in last week's gas-plant siege as Canadian.
Canadian diplomats in Algeria are also seeking access to the information the Algerians are using to identify any of the militants as Canadian.
The diplomatic discussions are part of Ottawa's ongoing efforts to either confirm or debunk reports that there were two Canadians among the terrorists involved in the attack on the remote plant in the Algerian desert.
Authorities say 37 hostages and 29 militants were killed when Algerian forces stormed the complex.
News from © The Canadian Press, 2013