Colombia identifies U.S. contractors held hostage

BOGOTA, Colombia -- The Colombian attorney general's office identified three U.S. military contractors captured by the nation's largest rebel group after their plane crashed more than two months ago in the southern jungle.

The three hostages were identified as Keith Donald Stansell, Marco Gonzalves and Thomas Howes. Their hometowns were not given.

The U.S. Embassy in Bogota, which has not released the identity of the three, would not comment on the statement.

The men were taken hostage by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, on Feb. 13.

The FARC has said the men are prisoners of war and will be released only if the Colombian government frees dozens of jailed rebels and grants the group a demilitarized zone.

The FARC is holding dozens of politicians, soldiers and police officers they also hope to use in the prisoner exchange.

The Americans' plane went down during an intelligence mission in the state of Caqueta, a rebel stronghold and cocaine-producing region. A fourth American -- Thomas Janis of Montgomery, Ala. -- was killed along with a Colombian colleague near the scene of the crash.

The three captives work for California Microwave Systems, a unit of Northrop Grumman Corp. that provides surveillance systems for the U.S. military. Several hundred U.S. contractors work in Colombia as part of a massive aid deal to fight drug production and the rebel insurgency.

Two other U.S. government planes have crashed in Colombia since Feb. 13, one of them while searching for Stansell, Gonzalves and Howes. Three Americans were killed in that crash.

An American pilot on a drug crop fumigation mission died April 7 when his plane went down in southwest Colombia.