The 11 Colombian deputies recently assassinated when held hostage by Farc could have been caught up in a gun battle between their kidnappers and bounty hunters seeking the $2.5 million offered by the government for each of the 8 top level members of the Farc “secretariat”, the leadership unit of the criminal organisation, declared the “New Herald“, based on military information and experts linked to the Ministry of Defence.

A government information service official confirmed that in addition to rewards for the 8 principal leaders, the Colombian government had promised rewards totalling approx $800,000 for each of the Farc’s second - in - commands; $100,000 for third ranking rebels and $70,000 for others.

According to these sources, these substantial rewards have attracted the interest of mercenaries in the U.S, Israel and Europe but none has succeeded in locating camps where Farc commanders operate.

Only in Ecuador and Venezuela have military and security forces personnel succeeded in arresting, in Quito and Caracas, two FARC second - in - commands (Simon Trinidad and Rodrigo Granda, respectively) and rewards were paid once these men were handed over to Colombian authorities.

This means that FARC are up against others besides the Colombian army, one source stated.

The offer of rewards offered ,he explained, is “ open and legal” so that “ ex-pats or foreigners might undertake to search” leading rebels.

The invitation to capture FARC chiefs was made by the Defence Minister in files sent to interested parties: each file contains a photo of the rebel leader, the reward offered for his capture and on the back, instructions as to how information can be sent to authorities.

“The most important file is obviously the one about the famous FARC leader :Pedro Antonio Marin, aka Tirofijo who is wanted internationally on an INTERPOL Code Red and whose file contains 21 arrest warrants for crimes such as terrorism, murder, kidnapping, extortion and terrorist related homicide”, stated the Ministry of Defence.

There are other theories about the death of the eleven deputies: they could have been killed by their kidnappers, or by paramilitary groups who attacked the camp where they were held.

The Assistant Defence Minister, Sergio Jaramillo, told the New Herald of his “absolute certainty” that it was FARC themselves who killed the deputies, and that in his opinion, the theory about the attack by bounty hunters was “the least probable”. However he added that for the moment, “it was very difficult to rule out any theory”.

So far no theory can be confirmed as FARC have neither returned the remains or indicated the location of the camp, which would be vital for research by forensic doctors to establish the circumstances of the eleven killings.

The probability that the massacre happened during an armed battle between FARC and mercenary bounty hunters is based, among other factors, on the fact that in announcing the death of the hostages, the guerrillas did not accuse the Colombian Army, as they generally do in these cases, but “ a military group, unidentifiable at present”.