79 of 99 Abducted by Colombian Rebels Are Freed
CALI, Colombia — Leftist Colombian rebels kidnapped about 100 churchgoers, including children, from a Mass on Sunday in an exclusive neighborhood and drove them into the countryside in trucks.
Pursued by army troops and police commandos into nearby mountains after the daring mass abduction in the western city of Cali, the rebels later abandoned at least 79 of the hostages, said armed forces chief Gen. Fernando Tapias.
Just as the weekly Roman Catholic Mass was ending at the rustic La Maria church, about 30 uniformed rebels forced the worshipers out of the wooden pews and onto two canvas-covered trucks and drove them out of the southern residential district of Ciudad Jardin.
The rebels, who shot and killed the bodyguard of one of the churchgoers, belonged to the National Liberation Army, or ELN, Colombia’s second-largest rebel band, authorities said.
“Nothing like this has happened before. It’s a detestable thing,†said Rafael Cuellar, acting director in Cali of the state security agency.
There was no claim of responsibility for the abduction.
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