Colombia says FARC releases 4 Chinese oil workers kidnapped in mid-2011

BOGOTA, Colombia – Colombian police say the country's main leftist rebel group has freed four Chinese oil workers it kidnapped more than a year ago.

Caqueta state police chief Col. Carlos Vargas told The Associated Press the four men were released to the International Committee of Red Cross around midnight Wednesday in a rural area of the southern town of San Vicente del Caguan.

The release comes three days after peace talks began in Cuba between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and Colombia's government.

The FARC announced in February that it was halting all kidnapping.

The four men work for the British company Emerald Energy, part of the China-based Sinochem Group.

They were seized June 8, 2011 in the same area where they were released.