Shrouded in Secrecy, Colombia Works to Free Hostages

Colombia worked Friday to free five hostages whose capture by the leftist FARC guerrillas has derailed peace talks, but kept the highly anticipated handover shrouded in secrecy.

There was no sign that military activity had been halted in either of the regions where the hostages were captured, a precondition for the handover.

"We will continue military operations until further orders from the government," a military source told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

President Juan Manuel Santos, who suspended peace talks with the FARC after they kidnapped General Ruben Alzate -- their highest-ranking captive in 50 years of conflict -- said Thursday that the handover operation was "under way."

But the government, the FARC and the Cuban and Norwegian diplomats who on Wednesday announced a deal for the hostages' release have all kept a tight lid on when and where the handover will take place.

Alzate, the head of a task force charged with fighting rebels and drug traffickers in the jungle-covered region of Choco, was captured Sunday along with a corporal and an adviser.

The incident derailed the two-year-old peace talks between the FARC and the government, which Santos says can only resume when the hostages are freed along with two soldiers captured in combat earlier this month in the eastern department of Arauca.

The Red Cross, which the government has asked to assist in the handover, said Thursday it had a "green light" to begin the operation, but said no further details could be released because of the "complexity" of the process.

A source close to the negotiations said Alzate and his fellow captives could be freed near the Atrato River, which passes just north of Choco department, where they were seized.

Founded in 1964, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is the largest of the guerrilla groups active in Colombia, with about 8,000 fighters.

The conflict, which has also drawn in drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries at various times, has killed more than 220,000 people and caused more than five million to flee their homes in the past five decades.