Nine hostages held by Colombia's rival armed group National
Liberation Army (ELN) on Sunday were freed and handed over to the
International Committee of the Red Cross, local officials said.
The ELN handed over the hostages, seven male truck drivers
kidnapped on Jan. 2 and two women whose identities remained
unclear, in a rural area of Samaniego, said Antonio Navarro,
governor of the Narino province, adding that all the hostages are
in good conditions.
The 4,500-troop ELN is Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group
after the Revolutionary Armed Forces pf Colombia (FARC), with
31,000 troops.
The ELN has held intermittent peace talks with the government
since December 2005 in Havana, Cuba. Bogota has asked the ELN to
end kidnapping and release all hostages it held, estimated at more
than 400.
(Xinhua News Agency, January 21, 2008)
