Rebels free last known hostage

Bogota: Leftist rebels on Tuesday freed the last known foreign hostage held in Colombia, an ailing 69-year-old Swede kidnapped nearly two years ago from the ranch where he'd retired.

Erik Roland Larsson, paralysed in half his body, was handed over to detectives in a rugged region of the northern state of Cordoba, the head of the DAS state security agency, Felipe Munoz, said.

Video provided by DAS to local media showed Larsson, apparently unable to walk, being lifted by police and soldiers from a canoe on the shore of a river in desolate, high terrain and placed on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

Munoz said various Swedish non-governmental organizations had sought his freedom.

"For us, it's obviously a very happy day," Swedish Embassy counsellor Tommy Stromberg said.

Stromberg said he did not know if a ransom was paid to Larsson's captors, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.