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Colombian gov't blames rebels for lawmakers' death |
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15:14, June 29, 2007 |
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe onThursday blamed rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for the death of 11 regional lawmakers taken hostage by FARC, denying the group's claims that a military rescueattempt was responsible.
"The deputies were cruelly murdered by FARC. Government forces were not there because they did not have location data for where the hostages were being held," Uribe told a press conference.
Earlier in the day, FARC told a domestic radio that 11 deputiesof a group of 12 kidnapped by FARC died in a June 18 rescue attempt by the Colombian army.
FARC said Sigifredo Gechen was the only survivor and accused the government of causing the tragedy, saying its unit had done all it could to protect the hostages during the attack and expressed condolences to the victims' families.
FARC has 57 hostages, including a three-year-old child who was born in captivity, U.S. army contractors and Colombian officials.
The hostages' relatives are hoping that FARC and the governmentcould reach an agreement to swap rebels for hostages, but militaryrescue operations and inflexible negotiating positions have made this unlikely.
The deputies, from the legislative assembly in the southeasternprovince of Valle del Cauca, were kidnapped in 2002.
Source: Xinhua
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