2 Suspects Held in Colombian Senator’s Hijacking, Abduction
The Colombian army on Saturday captured two suspected rebels accused of hijacking a jetliner to kidnap a senator on board--an incident that escalated the country’s decades-long civil war.
The Feb. 20 hijacking prompted the Colombian government to end three years of peace talks with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
Soldiers captured the two suspected FARC members and four others during a military operation in Ibague, 80 miles southwest of Bogota, the Colombian capital, according to army Gen. Hernan Cadavid.
Four armed hijackers seized control of the Aires airliner last month and forced it to land in a southern valley.
The FARC is believed to still be holding Sen. Jorge Gechen Turbay hostage. The other 29 passengers and crew were freed unharmed.
In separate operations, security forces captured 11 other rebels and five members of a rival rightist paramilitary group, authorities said Saturday.
Since President Andres Pastrana ended peace talks with the FARC, rebels have increased their attacks on Colombia’s infrastructure, bombing bridges and electrical and communications towers.
About 3,500 people are killed annually in the civil war.
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