Marxist Colombian rebels have denied kidnapping eight foreign tourists snatched by camouflage-clad gunmen near the ruins of an ancient Indian city last week.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-member guerrilla army known by its Spanish initials FARC, suggested Colombian military intelligence was to blame for the abduction and would likely stage a fake rescue.
Four Israelis, two Britons, a Spaniard and a German were taken hostage on Friday, and, according to witnesses, marched away into jungle slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
"It is false that our guerrilla units are responsible for kidnapping the eight tourists," the FARC said in a statement posted on its website www.farcep.org.
"The terrorist operations of the state against the tourists in the Sierra Nevada . . . are carried out by Colombian military intelligence, with the goal of showing results to [the president] with a staged rescue," it said.
The witnesses to the dawn abduction were five tourists the kidnappers decided to leave behind. Those left behind, who included two Australians, blamed rebels.
The military and government were more specific, saying it was the FARC, Latin America's largest guerrilla army, and dispatched 2,000 soldiers and police, backed by Black Hawk helicopters, to hunt for the hostages.
The remote, northern mountains where the eight tourists were kidnapped are the home to multiple guerrilla armies fighting in Colombia, including the smaller, Cuban-inspired National Liberation Army, known by its Spanish initials ELN.
The FARC and the ELN both regularly take hostages, usually looking for ransom money to fill war chests.