Seven soldiers doing their military service and two non-commissioned officers, soldiers of the nation and of the Government of Change, murdered by those who today are absolutely distant from peace and the people, the president condemned in his Twitter account.

The Colombian Army informed that at 03:00 in the morning of Wednesday, March 29, in the village of Villanueva in the municipality of El Carmen, they were attacked with explosives by the National Liberation Army (ELN).

The statement declares that so far nine soldiers have been officially reported killed and their identities are not yet known.

At this time the commander of the National Army is on his way to the scene of the incident.

It is a group of soldiers who were protecting the energy infrastructure of Norte de Santander, according to Silvano Serrano, governor of the department. Groups such as the ELN and FARC dissidents are present there.

General of the Military Forces, Helder Giraldo, rejected the attack against the soldiers and confirmed that seven soldiers and two non-commissioned officers were killed.

We spared no effort to save the lives of the wounded. We accompany their families in these difficult moments, he wrote via Twitter and added that they will maintain military operations in the area against ELN guerrillas.

ef/arm/mem/alb.