Farc Captives Rescued

Excellent.

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 14 other hostages held by rebels in Colombia have been rescued by government troops.

[...]

Colombian Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos said no-one had been hurt in Wednesday’s operation in the southern province of Guaviare and that the 15 hostages were in relatively good health.

Mr Santos said some 15 hostages had been rescued in total, among them 11 members of the Colombian security forces who had been captured in various rebel attacks.

He said the Farc rebels had been tricked into handing over the hostages by soldiers posing as members of a fictitious non-government organisation that supposedly would fly the hostages to a camp to meet rebel leader Alfonso Cano.

“The helicopters, which in reality were from the army, picked up the hostages in Guaviare and flew them to freedom,” Mr Santos said.

The three Americans rescued were defence department contract workers captured after their light aircraft crashed in the Colombian jungle in 2003, the Colombian military said.