BOGOTA, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- A massive search was being conducted Monday for eight tourists who were kidnapped Friday by rebels in northern Colombia.
Sky News said the leftist rebels abducted two Britons, four Israelis, a Spaniard and a German near the South American nation's Ciudad Perdida, or Lost City.
Thousands of troops backed by Black Hawk helicopters were searching for the rebels in the snowcapped Sierra Nevada mountains of northern Colombia, about 465 miles north of Bogota.
Columbian President Alvaro Uribe has condemned the abductions and vowed to track down the perpetrators.
Sky News said the kidnappers are believed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which is responsible for most of the 3,000 kidnappings that take place every year in that nation.
The rebels, who hold their prisoners for ransom, are also believed to be holding three U.S. military contractors and dozens of Colombian politicians, police and soldiers whom they want to exchange for imprisoned rebels.
