The bodies of ten young men from a Colombian amateur soccer team who had been kidnapped during a game in Venezuela were found Saturday in western Venezuela, officials in Caracas said.
An eleventh player, 18 years old, was found still alive and was rushed to hospital.
The players were kidnapped on October 11, in the Venezuelan state of Tachira.
The bodies showed evidence of gunshot wounds. Another five bodies were found in the area, but their identity was not yet clear, according to media reports.
The twelve Colombian players from the Los Maniceros team were kidnapped by a commando of 25 armed men on October 11 during play on an improvised football field.
They were held captive under a bridge. Their bodies were found strewn at various places around the city of Fernando Feo in the province, which borders on Colombia.
The background of the bloodbath is not clear. A spokesman for the regional government of Tachira blamed units of Colombian guerilla group ELN, referring to comments by the lone survivor to date.
"According to information which we have from the survivor, we know that armed units of ELN were led into Venezuelan territory by their so-called commander Payaso," he said.
Local politicians earlier said a Venezuelan guerrilla group had kidnapped the victims. (with DPA)
Bluebird
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... This is horrible.....I feel so sad for the families of these young men. Where is the 12 player? Still in captivity? |
Andrewmann552
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... This sounds more like a commando operation to either destabilize Venezuela or try to create more friction in Venezuela/Colombia relations. This is done all the time. Last week in Iran there was a major terrorist attack by the Sunni group Jundullah, who has been known to be a proxy arm of the CIA as reported by former CIA agent Robert Baer and journalist Seymour Hersh. It should not surprise anyone if Colombian paramilitary groups are now carrying out commando raids into Venezuela. |
azunoman
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... our hearts go out to the families.,...it's just so very sad that this happened.....Please Mr. Chavez....get the bad guys.... |
