Colombian Rebels Kidnap Eight Tourists

Sunday, September 14, 2003

(4:46 PM ET)

By Margarita Martinez

Associated Press Writer

Colombia has the highest kidnapping rate in the world with nearly 3,000 people abducted each year. The FARC, the nation's largest and most brutal rebel group, is blamed for most of the kidnappings. It is currently holding dozens of political prisoners, including a former presidential candidate, and three U.S. military contractors it wants to trade for rebels in jail. Among the current captives are three Americans captured when their plane crash-landed in rebel territory in February.

BOGOTA, Colombia -- AP
Eight foreign tourists have been kidnapped by leftist rebels in a mountainous region of northern Colombia, authorities said Sunday.

Four Israelis, two Britons, one German and a Spaniard were seized late Friday in the Sierra Nevada mountains, about 465 miles north of the capital, Bogota, said a senior government official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

An Israeli Embassy spokesman, who also asked that his name not be used, said the embassy had been formally notified by Colombian authorities that its nationals were among those held. The British Embassy declined immediate comment, while phones rang unanswered at the German Embassy.

The kidnappers are believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which has been fighting for nearly four decades to overthrow the government, the government official said. She said the rebels initially took the tourist group's guide, but later released him and he went straight to the police.
(More: Netscape Network News)

2003 © The Associated Press.

Dan