Colombia rebels snatch military official
(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Bogota Colombia
Bogota:Colombia's second-largest insurgency snatched a military intelligence official overnight from a power plant in the northwest army sources and authorities said Wednesday.
"The ELN (National Liberation Army) has in its hands aircraftsman Jair de Jesus Billar Ortiz" an army statement said.
Billar Ortiz was captured hours earlier when ELN forces attacked the power plant in Segovia northwest of Medellin.
The government demanded that Billar Ortiz be kept safe and be returned immediately.
The ELN founded in 1964 and influenced by the Cuban revolution since January 2014 has been in preliminary talks for a peace process with the Colombian government.
Its process has been far behind that of the country's largest rebel force the FARC. While the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia has held a unilateral ceasefire since July the ELN has been pressing its offensives.
The ELN is believed to have about 1500 fighters as compared to the FARC's 7000.
AFP