U.S. indicts Colombian guerrillas in killings

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and six of the guerrilla group's leaders were indicted Tuesday on federal charges in the 1999 killings of three Americans.

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Terence Freitas, 24, Ingrid Washinawatok, 41, and Lahee Enae Gay, 39, were kidnapped while working with Colombia's U'wa Indians. Their bodies were found dumped in Venezuela in March 1999.

In announcing the indictments, Attorney General John Ashcroft said the three went to Colombia to "do good" but met with "great evil" at the hands of the group, better known as FARC, for the initials of its name in Spanish.

"Despite its attempts to portray itself as a band of revolutionaries or freedom fighters, today's indictment describes the FARC as a fiercely anti-American terrorist organization," Ashcroft said.

"Since its inception in 1966, the FARC has targeted United States citizens as well as Colombians for acts of terrorism, including hostage-taking and murder."

The indictment "specifically charges and alleges not only conspiracy to commit murder [but also] three specific acts of murder, as well as the use of a gun in the commission of a violent crime," he said.

Among those indicted are German Briceno, a senior FARC commander in eastern Colombia and the brother of the guerrillas' second in command.

After the killings in 1999, a FARC spokesman told CNN a lower-level guerrilla commander ordered the killings without the approval of his superiors.

Ashcroft said U.S. officials would seek the suspects' extradition from Colombia.