Bogota - The bodies of 11 former regional legislators held hostage for years by Colombia's largest rebel group and killed in June have been found in a mass grave, news media reported Tuesday. Experts of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) dug up the bodies and were expected to take them to the city of Cali, the Colombian radio station RCN reported. RCN quoted a close associate of former minister Alvaro Leyva, thought to have easy access to the rebel group's leadership.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had said last week that the bodies would be surrendered by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to members of the ICRC in south-eastern Colombia.
The 11 legislators were killed in disputed circumstances in June. FARC insists they were caught in the crossfire when an unidentified armed group attempted to free them, but Uribe has insisted the rebels were to blame.
One lawmaker from the Valle del Cauca region who - like his dead colleagues - was kidnapped in April 2002 was unharmed in the incident because he was not in the camp at the time.
Following a tip from the rebels themselves, the mass grave was found in an area between the regions of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, in south-western Colombia.
Relatives of the dead legislators waited in Cali to help authorities identify their loved ones and to recovering their bodies.
The Marxist group FARC are still holding hostage 45 politicians, soldiers and police, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
The two sides have been negotiating but unable to agree on an exchange of hostages for rebels held in prison. Conservative Uribe has refused to demilitarize several towns in south-western Colombia, which the rebels demanded for the exchange.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is currently mediating in the hostage crisis.
