A rebel suspected of shooting Japanese businessman Chikao Muramatsu dead in November was killed Friday in a battle with the Colombian army in the suburbs of Bogota, according to news reports from Colombia.
The reports said the army shot and killed two members of the 22nd Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia in the state of Cundinamarca, where the group had been holding Muramatsu.
The reports quoted a member of the leftist guerrilla group, who has been arrested by Colombian authorities, as saying one of the two rebels had shot Muramatsu dead.
Muramatsu, 55, was vice president of Yazaki Ciemel Ltda., a local joint venture set up by Tokyo-based auto parts maker Yazaki Corp. He was found dead on Nov. 24 after having been held captive since he was kidnapped in February 2001.