LONDON, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Three British nationals have beenconfirmed killed during a hostage crisis at a gas plant inAlgeria, and a further three Britons along with a resident ofBritain are believed to have died, Prime Minister David Cameronsaid on Sunday.
Islamist militants seized the remote compound in the Saharadesert before dawn on Wednesday, taking a large number ofhostages. Details are still emerging of what happened when theAlgerian army launched an assault to end the siege on Saturday.
"Tragically we now know that three British nationals havebeen killed and a further three are believed to be dead and alsoa further British resident is also believed to be dead," Cameronsaid in a televised statement.
"The priority now must be to get everybody home from Algeria... and I've spoken this morning to our ambassador who is inAlgiers and this morning will be going again to the south of thecountry to help coordinate that absolutely vital activity."
Foreign Secretary William Hague said shortly after Cameronspoke that 22 Britons who had been caught up in the hostagedrama had flown home on charter flights organised by thegovernment or by BP.
Cameron had told parliament on Friday he was "disappointed"Algeria had given him no advance warning of an operation torescue hostages at the plant, but on Sunday he thanked Algeriafor its actions.
"Now of course people will ask questions about the Algerianresponse to these events, but I would just say that theresponsibility for these deaths lies squarely with theterrorists who launched this vicious and cowardly attack," hesaid.
"We should recognise all that the Algerians have done towork with us and to help and coordinate with us. I'd like tothank them for that. We should also recognise that the Algerianstoo have seen lives lost among their soldiers."
Asked whether the threat from militant groups in NorthAfrica was as serious as the one that had once existed inAfghanistan, Cameron said: "It is different in scale but thereare similarities.
"What we face is an extremist Islamist violent alQaeda-linked terrorist group, just as we had to deal with inPakistan and Afghanistan, so the world needs to come together todeal with this threat in North Africa."