The IRA has formed part of a global terror network based in Colombia, training Marxist rebels alongside Iranian and Cuban officials, a report by the US Congress said today.

Over 100 people are feared dead after rebels and paramilitary forces clashed near the Panamanian border.

Suspected right-wing paramilitary fighters kidnapped as many as 207 workers off palm oil plantations in Colombia in what the army described as the country’s biggest mass kidnapping.