Two people were found shot dead near a US government plane that crashed in a rebel-dominated area of Colombia, sources said today, and a senior Colombian military officer identified the pair as Americans who apparently had been slain execution style.
There was no confirmation of the identities of the two bodies.
The plane was carrying five people - four Americans and a Colombian - when its engine failed yesterday and it crashed in a jungle area in southern Caqueta province, which is largely dominated by rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 17,000-member guerrilla army known as FARC.
A source familiar with the investigation who asked not to be identified said the two people who had been shot dead were found near the plane's wreckage. The source declined to say anything further about their identity, nationality or exact manner of death.
A senior Colombian military officer told Reuters on condition of anonymity the two bodies were Americans and that he feared the other three crew members may have been kidnapped by rebels of the Marxist FARC. The officer said the slain pair appeared to have been killed execution style.
The single-engine Cessna plane, which the Colombian military said was on an "intelligence mission," crashed on Thursday morning near the city of Florencia, capital of Caqueta province, as it was attempting an emergency landing after engine failure, US officials said.
A State Department spokeswoman said the Americans aboard the plane were civilian specialist contractors conducting a routine US-Colombian mission and that a massive search and rescue effort had been launched. Wary of being dragged into a messy war that claims the lives of thousands every year, Washington has gradually invested more money and personnel in Colombia. Washington has more than 500 personnel in Colombia, including 267 military personnel and 270 civilian contractors.
The United States has spent about $2 billion in mostly military aid in recent years to help the war-torn Andean nation destroy the world's largest cocaine industry.