Colombian guerillas kidnap 13 medical workers
Guerillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have kidnapped a 13-member medical team who was working in the south of the Colombian department of Putumayo, Colombia's Social Protection Ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

The team, made up of dentists, doctors and nurses, has not been seen since it left San Francisco de Asis hospital on Friday heading for rural communities in Teteye and Puerto Colombia, in the municipality of Puerto Asis, 550 km southeast of Bogota.

Maria Elena Pabon Riascos, coordinator of emergencies and disasters at Putumayo's departmental health ministry, told media that "the kidnapping performed by FARC's Front 48 has been confirmed."

The abduction took place when the medical team was in La Vereda district of Puerto Colombia on Saturday, she added.

The team had planned to treat indigenous people who live close to the San Miguel River, one of the areas where FARC guerillas are most active and also one of the main growing regions for coca leaf, the raw material for producing cocaine.

Colombian Minister for Social Protection, Diego Palacio, said the kidnapping represented a new violation of human rights, citing specifically a violation of the Geneva Convention which bans attacks on medical institutions, the use of hospital vehicles to transport combatants or munitions, and the kidnapping of medical personnel.

General Mario Montoya told media on Tuesday that the 13 kidnapped by FARC had been taken to Ecuador, which neighbors Putumayo, possibly to attend to sick or wounded rebels.

FARC soldiers have repeatedly kidnapped civilians, politicians and doctors as part of their fight with the Colombian government, which began in the mid-1960s.