COLOMBIA REBELS DENY THEY KIDNAPPED FOREIGN OIL WORKERS

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 13 - The largest guerrilla group in Colombia has denied reports that it kidnapped 10 foreign oil workers on Thursday in the Amazon region of Ecuador, further clouding the fate of the captives, who were apparently flown by a hijacked helicopter into Colombia.

But Clinton administration officials said they had every indication that the group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was responsible. They said Ecuadorean Army units had intercepted a radio message from the helicopter that said a gunman on board had identified the group as FARC members. The gunman reportedly said the action was intended as a protest against a stepped-up effort by Colombia and the United States against coca plantings in southern Colombia, American officials said.

In the past, the FARC has refused to admit responsibility for kidnappings that it was later found to have been involved with. But Ecuadorean and Colombian officials said they could not be sure who had kidnapped the oil workers, who included five Americans.

"It's false to say it was our work," a FARC commander, Ivan Rios, told reporters. "It's an effort to justify an increased United States role in the region."

[A spokesman for President Alfredo Negrete of Ecuador said the Ecuadorean Army had found the helicopter used to kidnap the foreigners from the Tivacuno oil field, 155 miles south of the Colombia-Ecuador border, Reuters reported. He said the French-built Super Puma cargo helicopter had been found in La Bermeja, in the Putumayo region of Ecuador, near the border.

["The stolen helicopter was found without its occupants," Mr. Negrete said. "The armed forces are undertaking necessary steps to close in on the area."]

United States officials said the kidnapping operation was highly professional, included at least 15 gunmen and was apparently planned well in advance. The officials said that the gunmen ordered one oil worker, a pilot, to fly the helicopter north in the direction of Colombia and that they assumed that the copter was heading toward an area that the government has designated for the FARC as a demilitarized zone for peace talks.

The officials said it was possible that the kidnapping had been organized by a FARC group that did not have orders from the central command. There has been no word from the captors about demands or the well-being of the captives. But United States officials said they hoped that the FARC commanders might decide that it would be politically wise to let the captives go quietly.

"We have not publicly stated the FARC has these individuals, and if they do not but they have some influence over whether these individuals can be released, we would call upon them to use that influence," said the deputy assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs, William Brownfield.

The oil workers are employed by Helmerich & Payne and Erickson Air-Crane, two companies contracted by Repsol-YPF, the Spanish-Argentine oil company. The five Americans have been identified as David Bradley, Dennis Correy, Steve Derry, Ron Sanders and Jason Wavey. Among the captives were two French workers, one Chilean, one Argentine and a New Zealander. An 11th captive, an Ecuadorean, was reportedly released.

It is frequently unclear who is responsible when Colombians are involved in kidnappings. In a similar incident two years ago, eight oil workers were kidnapped by a group of Colombian and Ecuadorean criminals on the Ecuadorean side of the border. Terrorism experts said they believed that those kidnappers were affiliated with the FARC. The guerrilla group never acknowledged responsibility for the crime, although several million dollars has been paid by a Canadian company to free the workers.

The FARC holds hundreds of captives, including soldiers, executives and even children.