Caracas: Colombia's largest leftist guerrilla group, which has agreed to release some of its hostages following mediation by Venezuela's leftist government, has freed four captives and asked Caracas to pick them up from a forest location.

"I want to announce that we now know with precision the place where the four captives in the hands of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are to be delivered to our commander in chief and (Colombian) Senator Piedad Cordoba," Venezuela's Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin said.

Chacin was addressing a press conference along with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro on Monday.

Maduro said he had already contacted Colombian authorities to request a suspension of military operations in the area.

The helicopters sent to pick up the hostages will spend no more than two hours on the ground, the ministers said, citing fears of military action by Colombian soldiers or rightist paramilitary groups.

Venezuelan officials, who last month received two other captives from the FARC in a similar operation, suggested the handover could take place as early as Wednesday.

The FARC announced Jan 31 that they would free three former legislators and former senator Jorge Eduardo Géchem, who is in bad health.

The FARC has been trying for years to swap nearly 50 high-value hostages for hundreds of jailed guerrillas. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez last year led a peace mission to negotiate the swap till he was stopped by Colombian government on ground that he had overstepped his brief.

The most famous of the hostages is former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. The guerrillas are also holding three US defence contractors, besides a large number of police and army personnel.

Source : IANS