BOGOTA: More than 50 Colombian soldiers were being held captive Sunday by residents of a guerrilla-controlled region in the southwest of the country, the army said. A first platoon of soldiers was carrying out an operation in El Tambo, a municipality part of an area known as the Micay Canyon — a cocaine-producing enclave — when civilians detained them on Saturday. On Sunday another group of soldiers was surrounded by at least 200 residents as they headed toward El Plateado, another town in the region.

The military says the civilians were acting under pressure from dissidents of the Farc rebel group.

BOGOTA: More than 50 Colombian soldiers were being held captive Sunday by residents of a guerrilla-controlled region in the southwest of the country, the army said. A first…

President Gustavo Petro says freeing the seized soldiers ‘is imperative’.

Fifty-seven soldiers had been seized over the weekend and held captive in the restive Cauca region.