At least 34 soldiers were abducted by armed civilians in the jungle in southeastern Colombia, including 11 guerrillas, including a Dissidential Fraction of the former Rebel Group FARC, said Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez on Tuesday.
The conflicts occurred in the rural part of the Municipality of El Retorno, in the southeastern Province of Guaviara, and included members of the Central General Staff (EMC) – groups of former FARC fighters rejected by the Peace Agreement signed with the Government 2016. years.
Sanchez said that soldiers were abducted while leaving the area after the military operation in which Commander EMC was killed and 10 more rebels, reports reuters.
“This is an illegal, criminal action by people in civilian clothes,” Sanchez told reporters. “It’s about kidnapping here.”
The jungle in this region is considered a strategic drug trafficking corridor and is known for large coats of coke, chief ingredient for cocaine production.
This kidnapping comes after a similar incident in June, when 57 soldiers were held like hostages two days in the mountain region in the southwestern land, another stronghold of the FARC dissident factions.
Armed groups financed through drug trafficking, illegal mining and other criminal activities are still present in Colombia, despite the Peace Agreement with FARC – once the largest rebel group in the country.
Six decades long conflict in Colombia took more than 450,000 lives.
(Vijesti.ba)
