A Colombian state governor was kidnapped after gunmen dressed in military uniforms attacked his home on Monday in an assault authorities believe was carried out by left-wing FARC guerrillas, Reuters reported.
A FARC kidnapping of a provincial governor from his home would show Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency is still capable of high-profile operations despite the group being battered by Colombia's U.S.-backed military offensive.
Colombian army and police officials said the Teofilo Forero unit of the FARC rebel group was responsible for the kidnapping, during which a police officer was killed.
"The governor was taken from his home by force, and one of the people who was guarding his house was killed," the secretary for the Caqueta state governor's office, Edilberto Ramon Endo, told reporters.
The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, was once a strong rebel army controlling large parts of Colombia. But the violent acts and kidnappings it has conducted during a four-decade war have ebbed as President Alvaro Uribe has used military force to take back areas under control of illegal armed groups.