Photo provided by Colombia's Defense Ministry shows Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas (C) delivers a speech during a news conference in Bogota, Colombia, on Oct. 26, 2015. Eleven Colombian soldiers and one police officer who were guarding local elections were killed in an ambush allegedly by members of the leftist rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN), it was reported Monday. (Xinhua/Javier Casella/Mindefensa)
BOGOTA, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- Eleven Colombian soldiers and one police officer who were guarding local elections were killed in an ambush allegedly by members of the leftist rebel group National Liberation Army (ELN), it is reported Monday.
The ELN, the country's second-largest rebel group, attacked the officials in a rural area of the town of Guican in the eastern Boyaca department.
In addition, the guerrilla's ambush left three other soldiers wounded, and several civilians are also believed to have gone missing in the attack.
"These 12 heroes killed were guarding 130 votes casted at the indigenous community of U'wa," Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said in a televised speech.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos ordered the Defense Ministry to advance a major search and rescue operation and intensify its actions in the area, he said.
Villegas said the president has ordered to face this incident "with all the power and force."
The defense minister expressed condolences on behalf of the government to the families of the 12 victims.
The ELN attack came at a time when the guerrilla group was seeking the start of peace negotiations with the government following peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
"If the ELN believes that these actions will win political space or strengthen an eventual negotiation process, they are totally wrong. It is exactly the opposite," Santos said after the attack.
