Beijing, Jan 29 (IANS) At least 29 Chinese nationals working for a Chinese company in Sudan have reportedly been taken hostage after a workers’ camp was attacked by a separatist outfit, a media report said Sunday.

The camp was attacked by local militants in South Kordofan state Saturday, Xinhua quoted foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin as saying.

Liu did not specify the exact number of missing people, and the Chinese embassy in Khartoum said there were 20 people.

The foreign ministry and the Chinese embassy in Sudan have initiated an emergency response to the incident, he said.

The director of the foreign ministry’s consulate department Sunday summoned Sudan’s Charge d’affaires in Beijing and urged Sudanese authorities to search for the missing Chinese nationals.

A spokesman of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLA) Sunday told Xinhua the group was holding 29 Chinese workers.

“Armed clashes took place between our forces and the Sudanese army near Al-Abbasiya Tagali town in South Kordofan. We have controlled the area and 29 Chinese were held,” SPLA spokesman Arno Taloudy told over phone from Kenyan capital Nairobi.

The workers were transported to a safe place and were in good health, he said.

South Kordofan state governor Ahmed Haroun confirmed the news of Saturday’s attack, according to the official SUNA news agency.

South Kordofan on the border between Sudan and South Sudan has been witnessing clashes since June last year.