Rebels in Colombia Release 5 Hostages

SIERRA NEVADA, Colombia —  Colombian Marxist rebels on Monday released four Israeli hikers and a English backpacker they had kidnapped 100 days ago, handing them over to a church-led commission in a humanitarian gesture.

Covered with mosquito bites, but in good general health, Israelis Benny Daniel, Ido Guy, Erez Altawil and Orpaz Ohayon and Briton Mark Henderson were said to have grinned as they clambered onto two helicopters at a secret site in Colombia’s northern Sierra Nevada mountains.

“We’re free! We’re free!” Henderson said by cellphone from a copter. He lost 29 pounds while being held captive.

Dozens of heavily armed rebels supervised the release, the results of months of negotiations facilitated by the Roman Catholic Church.

“It’s something that we’ve all been waiting for, for three months,” Henderson said. “It’s all a bit overwhelming.”

The former hostages described arduous treks through rugged mountains, thick jungle and pouring rain.

Fear of a Colombian military strike was constant, and the buzz of nearby helicopters followed the hostages during the first weeks.

“It can be a problem. They can shoot us,” Ohayon said. The hostages stayed in the huts of local Indian families, and moved to a new location every two to three days.

The local rebel commander was seen on an Associated Press Television News video wishing the former hostages a Merry Christmas and apologizing for having kidnapped them.

The five were among eight hostages kidnapped at gunpoint Sept. 12 by the National Liberation Army, known as the ELN, while visiting the ruins of an ancient Indian city.

The rebels released two -- a Spaniard and a German -- in late November. The eighth member of the group, a 19-year-old Briton, had escaped shortly after being seized.

The tourists had ignored warnings against travel into Colombia where thousands of people are abducted every year, mostly by Marxist rebels looking for ransom money to fund a 40-year-old guerrilla war.