HOSTAGE CONFIRMED CANADIAN.

Ottawa has confirmed that a Canadian is among three people taken hostage in Libya earlier this week.

In a statement Sunday, Global Affairs spokesman Michael O’Shaughnessy says the Canadian government is “diligently pursuing all appropriate channels to obtain more information about this troubling incident.”

He says the government will not comment further or release any information that may compromise efforts to secure the hostages’ release. The other two people taken hostage are Italians.

According to The Guardian, the president of the Italian Senate’s defence commission, Nicola Latorre, urged “much prudence in this phase, both because we still don’t have the elements to pinpoint the precise matrix of the kidnappers and also to not negatively influence the course of events.”

Earlier in the week, a Libyan official said authorities were investigating the abduction of three foreigners working for a maintenance company near the border with Algeria.

Hassan Osman Eissa from the Ghat municipal council told The Associated Press on Thursday that the abductors are not al-Qaida members, as some reports stated, but rather “a local group of outlaws.”