BOGOTA, Colombia (Reuters) -- Colombia's second-largest rebel group said
                  Wednesday it would suspend a campaign of highway blockades and kidnappings
                  over Easter.

                  The National Liberation Army said it would begin a 10-day truce late Wednesday,
                  ending a week-long offensive, or "armed strike," during which it sabotaged buses
                  and trucks, bombed bridges and blocked some of the country's main roads.

                  The 5,000-strong rebel force, known by the Spanish initials ELN, said it would
                  also stop kidnapping motorists and passengers at illegal roadblocks -- operations
                  known as "miracle fishing" -- during the Easter period when many Colombians
                  head for vacation spots on the coast and in the mountains.

                  The ELN cease-fire, announced by the Cuban-inspired group's second in
                  command, Antonio Garcia, in a call to local radio networks, did not include a halt
                  to attacks on military units. In what he described as a goodwill gesture, Garcia
                  said the ELN would free the four-member crew of a commercial airliner it
                  hijacked in northern Colombia a year ago with 44 people on board.

                  All but 14 of those seized during the hijack have been released in return for hefty
                  ransom payments.

                  The larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, called a
                  three-week truce over Christmas, during which it suspended attacks on army
                  units. But the group continued its campaign of kidnapping civilians and
                  blackmailing and extorting businessmen.

                  There was no hint that the FARC, which is engaged in year-old peace
                  negotiations with the government, would suspend its operations during Holy
                  Week.

                  The ELN took up arms in the mid-1960s and quickly attracted into its ranks a
                  Roman Catholic priests who believed in "Liberation Theology." The movement
                  was later led by a defrocked Spanish priest, Manuel Perez, until his death from
                  hepatitis in 1998.

                  The ELN is calling for peace talks with the government aimed at ending the
                  three-decade-old conflict that has claimed more than 35,000 lives in the last 10
                  years. But it has so far failed to agree on terms for the talks.