Soldiers soaked with gasoline, burned during the mission to destroy the cocaine laboratory, says the Colombian army

Two Colombian soldiers were seriously injured after being soaked with gasoline and caught fire when an anti -drug operation was attacked in southeastern Colombia, the army said Wednesday.

The incident occurred during an operation to destroy a cocaine Laboratory in a rural area of ​​the department of northern Putumayo, which limits with Ecuador.

A riot took place during which a “group of civilians attacked the uniformed officers with fire to prevent the procedure,” said the army in a statement on Wednesday.

An officer and a soldier suffered severe burns and received treatment in a hospital.

Such civilians attacks in security forces in guerrilla controlled areas have become increasingly frequent in Colombia.

The Latin American country is dealing with its worst security crisis in a decade, driven by criminal groups that benefit from drug trafficking, extortion and illegal mining.

The Army promised actions against the border commands, a dissident faction that rejected the 2016 Peace Agreement between the Government and the FARC guerrillas group, accusing them of orchestrating the attack and “coercion” of the civilian population in the area.

Defense Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a position on social networks that perpetrators “are not peasants or communities that claim their rights.”

“They are criminals and drug traffickers who tried to kill our soldiers.”

Sanchez published a video of a often victims transported by helicopter to receive medical care.

The Border Command Group, which operates both in Colombia and Ecuador, is currently in peace negotiations with the government of the leftist president Gustavo Petro, but with little progress.

Colombian prosecutors arrested Andrés Rojas, the group leader who is also known as Arana, during a meeting with government representatives in February.

It faces charges related to recent cocaine shipments to the United States and sought extradition.

The Ecuadorian authorities blamed the group for killing 11 soldiers in an attack during an operation against illegal mining in May.

In July, a Military dog ​​in Colombia It was injured after detecting a pump planted by guerrillas who exploded during a military operation. The Colombian army blamed the explosion to Eln, a group of approximately 6,000 combatants fighting the Colombian government. Peace conversations with the group, which the United States has designated as a foreign terrorist organization, were suspended in January, when the Eln was blamed For dozens of deaths in raids near the border with Venezuela.

The dog’s injury was announced only two days after a pump tied to a donkey He exploded in the same area, killing a soldier and wounding two others.

• Colombia
• Cocaine