Soldiers doused with gas, set on fire during mission to destroy cocaine lab
- - Soldiers doused with gas, set on fire during mission to destroy cocaine lab
CBSNewsSeptember 4, 2025 at 6:30 PM
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Fernando Vergara / AP
Two Colombian soldiers were seriously injured after being doused with gasoline and set on 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 northern Putumayo department, which borders Ecuador.
A riot took place during which a "group of civilians attacked the uniformed officers with fire to impede the procedure," the military said in a statement Wednesday.
An officer and a soldier suffered severe burns and were receiving treatment in a hospital.
Such attacks by civilians on security forces in remote, guerrilla-controlled areas have become increasingly frequent in Colombia.
The Latin American country is grappling with its worst security crisis in a decade, fueled by criminal groups profiting from drug trafficking, extortion and illegal mining.
The army vowed action against the Comandos de Frontera, a dissident faction that rejected the 2016 peace accord between the government and the FARC guerrilla group, accusing them of orchestrating the attack and "coercing" the civilian population in the area.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a post on social media that the perpetrators "are neither peasants nor communities claiming their rights."
"They are criminals and narcos who attempted to murder our soldiers."
Sanchez posted video of one oft the victims being transported by helicopter to receive medical care.
𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐍 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐌𝐀𝐑 𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐎𝐒 𝐀 𝐃𝐎𝐒 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒, 𝐄𝐍 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐙Ó𝐍, 𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐔𝐌𝐀𝐘𝐎Condenamos y repudiamos el demencial intento de quemar vivos a dos de nuestros militares del @COL_EJERCITO, quienes se encontraban… pic.twitter.com/aas2Xb2o27
— Pedro Arnulfo Sanchez S. Orgullosamente Colombiano (@PedroSanchezCol) September 4, 2025
The Border Command group, which operates in both Colombia and Ecuador, is currently in peace negotiations with leftist President Gustavo Petro's government, but with little progress.
Colombian prosecutors arrested Andres Rojas, the group's leader who is also known as Arana, during a meeting with government representatives in February.
He faces charges related to recent cocaine shipments to the United States and his extradition is being sought.
Ecuadoran 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 was wounded after detecting a bomb planted by guerrilla fighters that exploded during a military operation. The Colombian military blamed the explosion on ELN, a group of roughly 6,000 fighters that is fighting Colombia's government. Peace talks with the group — which the U.S. 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 just two days after a bomb strapped to a donkey exploded in the same area, killing one soldier and wounding two others.
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