AMERICANS KIDNAPPED, FLOWN TO COLOMBIA

Leftist rebel group denies responsibility for seizing foreigners.

Quito, Ecuador --- Ten foreigners, including six Americans, were kidnapped
from an oil field in the Amazon jungle and flown by helicopter to
neighboring Colombia by an armed band claiming to be Colombian rebels,
military officials said.

But in Colombia, a spokesman for the leftist rebel group denied it was
responsible for Thursday's hostage-taking. There were also conflicting
reports of the number of hostages taken.

Ecuadorean military officials said masked gunmen seized six Americans, a
Chilean, an Argentine and two Frenchmen before dawn in the El Coca region,
150 miles from the capital, Quito.

The kidnappers claimed to be members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia, or FARC, Colombia's largest guerrilla group, a military communique
said.

Ecuadorean Vice President Pedro Pinto said the group had claimed the
kidnapping was in ''reprisal for Plan Colombia'' --- an anti-drug
trafficking initiative backed by $1.3 billion in U.S. aid.

But rebel spokesman Carlos Antonio Lozada said ''I can assure you with total
security that the FARC has nothing to do with this incident.''

FARC rebels, whose field commanders operate with substantial autonomy, have
had to backpedal on similar denials in the past.

Last month, a guerrilla hijacked a commuter plane and forced it down at a
FARC-held southern airport. The group initially denied the rebel belonged to
their organization, but later conceded that he did.

"If this was a decision by the top command of the FARC, it would mark a
significant escalation against the United States," said Rafael Nieto, a
Colombian military analyst based in Washington. "If it's true, it would
appear they are trying to provoke a direct confrontation. If this is the
game they are playing, they are playing with fire."

The U.S. Embassy in Quito said it was working closely with Ecuadorean
officials to obtain the victims' release.

In Washington, FBI spokesman Bill Carter said the agency's legal attache in
Colombia was in touch with Ecuadorean authorities and had "offered any FBI
assistance needed."

Ecuador's military said that the helicopter was detected flying near
Ecuador's jungle town of Lago Agrio Thursday morning before passing over the
San Miguel River into Colombia.

There were conflicting details about the kidnapping.

Ecuador's military identified the Americans as Dennis Correy, Steve Derry,
Jason Wavey, David Bradley, Ron Sanders, and Arnold Arfold. The Frenchmen
were listed as Jean Louis Froidurot and Jany Marcelin, and were identified
as the pilots of the helicopter. The Chilean and Argentine were identified
respectively as German Shultz and Juan Rodriguez.

Pinto, however, said there were only nine kidnap victims, and that one of
them was believed to be an Ecuadorean.

In Washington, a State Department official said at least 10 but probably as
many as 25 people were believed to have been seized, including five
Americans. He said some 15 heavily-armed men are thought to have been
involved.

At least three of the five Americans are pilots and one of them was ordered
by the kidnappers to fly the captives out, said the official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity. Three of the Americans were apparently employees of
Oregon helicopter manufacturer Erickson Air-Crane.

Meanwhile, local media reports in New Zealand said that one of the kidnap
victims was from that country.

The oil field, operated by Spanish energy giant Repsol YPF SA, lies in
Ecuador's northern territory, which borders Colombia's southern state of
Putumayo, the heart of Colombia's cocaine-producing region.

Ecuador's military had been beefing up its presence along its northern
jungle border with Colombia, anticipating that stepped-up military
engagements and coca crop eradication from Plan Colombia could push that
country's conflict across the border.