Colombian army releases video during rescue of 15 hostages

The Colombian army on Friday released a video purportedly filmed during the rescue of 15 hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, who were being held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

Betancourt, three US military contractors and 11 Colombian soldiers and police were airlifted to freedom on Wednesday in an operation involving military spies who tricked the leftist rebels into handing over their most prized hostages, without firing a shot. The operation -in which many military intelligence agents infiltrated the top ranks of FARC- involved months of intelligence gathering and dozens of helicopters.

Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos presented the video on Friday during a news conference at Colombia's military headquarters in Bogota. The video appears to show the hostages with their hands bound with plastic filing grim-faced toward the helicopter that would fly them to safety, then hugging one another and crying with joy after they are aloft and realize they are free. A woman believed to be Betancourt was amongst the group. The Colombian army said a FARC commander called Cesar also appears in the video. The camera zooms in on a man who appears to be American hostage Keith Stansell. "I love my family", the man tells the cameraman. Another man who identifies himself on camera as Tenant Malagon, is shown saying he had "been in chains for ten years".

AP Television has no way to verify the authenticity of the video. The army said the video was shot in San Jose del Guaviare, in the east of Colombia, by Colombian soldiers posing as a media crew during Wednesday's rescue operation.

The army said the actual moment Cesar and the other rebel who accompanied the hostages were overpowered was not captured on video. The army said the final images in the three-minute video showed the hostages after they realized they have been freed.

Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos denied reports in international media that Israel was involved in the operation, assuring that it was 100 percent Colombian. He said US authorities were informed ten days before the operation as part of an agreement President Alvaro Uribe had with US President George W Bush.