Kerry didn’t raise claim Canadians were involved in Algeria terror attack: Baird

OTTAWA – Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird says his new U.S. counterpart, Sen. John Kerry, didn’t raise any concerns about alleged Canadian involvement in last month’s gas plant attack in Algeria.

Baird says the issue simply didn’t come up in the 15-minute telephone call he had Sunday with the new Secretary of State.

Baird says Canadian officials in Algiers still haven’t been able to corroborate the claim by Algeria’s prime minister that at least one Canadian was among the terrorists that attacked and took hostages at the Saharan plant.

The Jan. 16 attack led to a four-day siege that killed at least 37 hostages and 29 militants.

Baird says Canadians on the ground are doing “forensic” examination, but provides no additional detail.

He says he used the conversation with Kerry to make the case for State Department approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry Alberta oilsands bitumen to the southern U.S.