Suspected Colombian rebels kidnap provincial governor

A Colombian provincial governor has been seized by gunmen dressed in military uniforms, the authorities say.

Luis Fernando Cuellar, the governor of Caqueta, was seized from his house in the provincial capital, Florencia.

A police officer died in the attack, which officials said was the work of left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrillas.

Caqueta, close to the Colombian Amazon, has been a stronghold of the Farc for many years.

Edilberto Ramon Endo, secretary of the government of Caqueta province, said Mr Cuellar had been forced out of his home by the gunmen, who lobbed a grenade and exchanged fire with security guards.

The attackers were wearing army uniforms but were believed to be Farc rebels, he said.

An operation to rescue the governor is under way.

The Farc is Colombia's oldest and largest left-wing rebel group.

The rurally-based organisation was once thought to have some 16,000 fighters, but reports suggest it now has about 9,000.

The Farc has suffered several defeats at the hands of conservative President Alvaro Uribe's security forces.

The incidence of attacks and kidnappings has lessened.

But the rebels are still holding more than 20 police officers and soldiers, often referred to as high-profile hostages, who were seized more than a decade ago.

They are also believed to have kidnapped hundreds of other people, mainly for ransom, over the years.

Nigeria rebels attack oil pipeline

Armed men in the Niger delta of Nigeria say they have attacked an oil pipeline overnight, putting a two-month truce with the government in doubt.

A faction of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said it attacked the pipeline.

A spokesman said it was because the government was delaying peace talks due to the absence of ill President Umaru Yar'Adua, who is in Saudi Arabia.

Attacks have cost Nigeria millions in lost revenue over the years.

The faction said, in an e-mailed statement, that the "warning strike" was carried out by 35 men on five boats with assault rifles, rocket launchers and heavy-calibre machine guns.

It said the pipeline was in Abonemma, about 50km (30 miles) west of Port Harcourt.

Nigeria's military has not commented on the attack.

Peace talks were suspended when President Yar'Adua was hospitalised in late November in Saudi Arabia.

Mend said it would review the ceasefire within 30 days.

"While the Nigerian government has conveniently tied the advancement of talks on the demands of this group to a sick president, it has not tied the repair of pipelines, exploitation of oil and gas as well as the deployment and re-tooling of troops in the region to the president's ill health," it said.