Colombian rebels on Friday freed two Germans they had taken hostage in November, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The two men were turned over by National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas in a rural part of northeast Colombia to a humanitarian team that included ICRC delegates, the aid group said in a statement. The men were identified as Uwe and Otto Breuer, brothers aged 69 and 73. They were kidnapped four months ago in the same region of Norte de Santander department where they were released Friday.

(Adds German foreign minister comment) By Jack Kimball BOGOTA, March 8 (Reuters) - Colombia's second-largest guerrilla group on Friday freed two German men that the rebels had held since November, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The two were being transferred by helicopter from a jungle location to an airport in northeast Norte de Santander province, and handed over to the German Embassy and representatives of Colombia's government, according to the ICRC.

Colombia's ELN guerrilla group said Monday they were still holding a Canadian engineer after releasing five other captured mining company employees last week. "Canadian engineer Jernoc Wobert, 47, continues to be detained by guerrillas of the National Liberation Army in the San Lucas mountain range," an ELN unit, the Dario Ramirez Castro Front, said in a statement on the group's website.

Leftist Colombian rebels holding two Germans hostage have asked their families for information about the pair, a statement said Monday, suggesting they may be preparing to release them. National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas earlier identified their captives, who have been held for over three months, as "Messrs. Breur Uwe and Breuer Gunther Otto, of alleged German nationality." The men were captured in the Catatumbo region, in northeastern Colombia near the border with Venezuela, the group said, claiming they were spies.