"Sanchez said on Tuesday that the soldiers were taken as they were evacuating the area after a military operation that killed an EMC commander and 10 other rebels. This is an illegal, criminal action by people in civilian clothing, Sanchez told reporters. This is a kidnapping. The jungle region is considered a strategic corridor for drug trafficking and is known for its extensive coca crops, the main ingredient used to produce cocaine."
"It followed a similar abduction in June when the army said 57 soldiers were seized by civilians in a southwestern mountainous area, a key zone for cocaine production and one of the most tense in the country's ongoing security crisis. The Colombian army has maintained that the civilians in the region receive orders from the EMC, the main FARC dissident group."
At least 34 government soldiers were kidnapped by armed civilians in a jungle in southeastern Colombia after clashes that killed 11 fighters, including an EMC commander. The fighting occurred in rural El Retorno municipality, Guaviare, involving the Central General Staff (EMC), a FARC dissident group that rejected the 2016 peace deal. Defence Minister Pedro Sanchez said the soldiers were taken while evacuating after a military operation and described the seizure as an illegal kidnapping by people in civilian clothing. The region is a strategic drug-trafficking corridor with extensive coca cultivation. Similar abductions occurred in June, and armed groups continue to fund themselves through drug trafficking, illegal mining and other crimes.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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