Colombia hostage accord in balance after killings

CALI, Colombia, June 29 (Reuters) Colombian guerrillas said on Friday they would hand over the bodies of 11 lawmakers killed after more than five years in rebel captivity and whose deaths could threaten attempts to free other hostages.

President Alvaro Uribe accused the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia yesterday of killing the politicians, hours after the rebels released a statement saying the men had been shot in the cross-fire during a rescue attempt by unidentified troops.

The deaths have shocked Colombians and could complicate attempts to broker a deal between Uribe and the guerrillas over high-profile hostages, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans captured in 2003.

Newspapers in Cali, where the 11 lawmakers were snatched in 2002 from a local assembly building, printed their faces on front pages with headlines ''Assassinated'' and ''Massacred.'' Weeping relatives gathered for a second day to mourn in the home of Fabiola Perdomo, whose husband was one of the politicians taken in 2002.

''We will do what is needed to coordinate ... the handover of remains to the bereaved; that depends on the easing of military confrontation in the area where these events took place,'' FARC spokesman Raul Reyes said in a letter to Perdomo.

France, Spain and Switzerland issued a statement TOday denouncing the deaths of the lawmakers and voicing frustration at the failure to secure the release of other hostages.

Kidnapping and violence from Colombia's four-decade long conflict have dropped under Uribe's government, but the issue of FARC hostages has proven a tough challenge for a hard-line president popular for his tough stance against the FARC.

Hopes of securing an agreement over the hostages were fueled in recent weeks when Uribe said he was releasing a top FARC member at the request of French President Nicolas Sarkozy in an attempt to broker a deal that would free them.

But the announcement the 11 lawmakers were killed and the confusion over how they died has clouded the future of any talks over hostage release.

''This might pressure both sides and open up the door,'' said Maria Florez, whose brother has been held by the guerrillas since 1998. ''But there is a lot of fear ... it could work out well or it could not.'' Uribe said recent FARC violence reinforced his refusal to grant its demand for a New York City-sized safe haven to serve as a meeting place to negotiate a hostage swap. Uribe says that will allow the rebels to regroup.

Reuters KK VP0246