At least 34 Colombian soldiers were kidnapped after clashes with FARC auditors | Armed groups news star-news.press/wp

Defense Minister says that the soldiers were taken while evacuating the area after a military operation that killed 11 rebels.

Defense Secretary Pedro Sanchez says at least 34 government soldiers were kidnapped by armed civilians in a forest in southeastern Colombia after clashes that killed 11 fighters, including the leader of a dissident faction for the former rebel Fark Group.

The fighting took place on Sunday in a rural part of the EL RTORNO municipality in the province of Al -Jawafia and participated in the members of the Central General Staff (EMC), a group of former fighters with the left -wing FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia, who rejected a peace agreement with the government for the year 2016.

Sanchez said on Tuesday that the soldiers were transported during the evacuation of the area after a military operation that killed the EMC commander and 10 other rebels.

“This is an illegal criminal act by people who wear civilian clothes,” Sanchez told reporters. “This is a kidnapping.”

The jungle area is a strategic pathway for drug smuggling and is known for its vast crops, which is the main component used for cocaine production.

This was a similar kidnapping in June when the army said that 57 soldiers seized by civilians in a mountainous area southwest, a major area for cocaine production and one of the most continuous security crisis in the country.

The Colombian army confirmed that civilians in the area are receiving orders from EMC, the main divided group of FARC.

Armed groups-who finance themselves by smuggling drugs, illegal mining and other crimes-are still present in Colombia after a six-decade struggle that killed more than 450,000 people despite the peace agreement with FARC nine years ago when it was the largest rebel group in Colombia.

Last week, at least 18 people were killed and dozens were injured in two attacks attributed to the Persian Persian factions.

In Kali, the third city’s most populated city, a vehicle full of explosives that exploded on Thursday near a military airline, killing six people and wounding 71, according to the mayor’s office.

Hours ago, a helicopter from the National Police Black Hawk, which is involved in the process of eliminating the coca crop, was shot down by a drone in the municipality of Amalfi in the Ministry of Antioch, killing 12 police officers.

President Gustavo Petro blamed the attacks on the factions of FARC.