Colombian army frees 2 kidnapped Canadians

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Security forces on Saturday freed two Canadian tourists who were abducted two days earlier in the Colombian city of Cali, the army said in a statement.

The kidnappers eluded capture during the army operation to rescue the hostages, who were found unharmed, the army said.

The tourists, who were not immediately identified, were snatched from their hotel in Cali, the country's third-largest city and located in Valle del Cauca, in the southwest.

Between January and September of this year, 245 kidnappings took place in the South American nation, police say, representing an increase of more than 70 percent over the same period in 2022, when there were 142 cases.

Last month, the father of Liverpool's Luis Diaz was kidnapped by National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in his hometown on the Colombian-Venezuelan border.

Luis Manuel Diaz, father of the Colombian national team player, was held captive for 12 days, in a case that cast a spotlight on peace talks between the Marxist armed group and the government.

Colombia's Truth Commission estimates that more than 50,000 people have been victims of kidnapping in the country in recent decades.