HOSTAGES in Iraq are among those paying "the blood price" for Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to go to war, Scottish Nationalist Party leader Alex Salmond said yesterday.

Mr Salmond made the charge in a speech to his party's annual conference in Inverness, in the course of a savage attack on Mr Blair.

But he later denied this amounted to him publicly holding Mr Blair responsible for the plight of hostage Kenneth Bigley.

Mr Salmond and his party, along with Plaid Cymru, have launched moves to impeach Mr Blair over the war in Iraq.