YEREVAN.- Preliminary reports received from Algerian foreign office say there are no citizens of Armenia among those who were taken hostage, spokesperson for Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told Armenian News-NEWS.am.

Earlier AFP quoting Al Jazeera television reported about an Armenian citizen taken as a hostage .

The militants took several dozens of people as hostages in a gas plant situated in south-east of Algeria.

Conflicting reports were received from Algeria on Thursday. Thirty hostages reportedly managed to escape by military helicopters. Some reports claimed 35 hostages were killed in an attempt to escape. No official information was reported on the number of hostages and casualties.