Colombian rebel group to release 6 hostages

BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- A Colombian rebel group announced plans to release 6 hostages, including former Gov. Alan Jara and former legislator Sigifredo Lopez Tobon, according to a statement from the group on Sunday.

Jara has been held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) since his capture in 2001, and Tobon has been held in captivity since 2002.

The other four hostages are Colombian police and soldiers.

Colombian Sen. Piedad Cordoba, an opposition party leader with close political ties to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, told CNN Sunday that an agreement had been brokered but could not confirm a time when the hostages would be released.

Cordoba has played a key role in past hostage negotiations.

Meanwhile, police say 10 more people were kidnapped by FARC rebels Sunday evening in the Colombian department of Meta, where Jara was formerly governor.

The Colombian government has recently stepped up pressure on the rebels, offering rewards to the guerrillas if they surrender themselves and free their hostages.

Although the government says the FARC's military force has been severely compromised, authorities still accuse it of trafficking huge quantities of cocaine to finance its decades-old insurgency.

The government says there are 3,000 kidnapped people in Colombia and the FARC is responsible for 700 of them.

Among the most famous was former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, freed in July alongside three American military contractors and 11 Colombian police and military members.

The government says the FARC is treating 40 hostages as political bargaining chips.

CNN's Karl Penhaul contributed to this report.

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