Thirty-three Colombian soldiers have been released after being held captive for three days in a remote Amazonian village dominated by armed rebel factions and drug crops, the country’s Ombudsman’s Office said.

“At this moment, soldiers are withdrawing from the village Nueva York,” said Iris Marin, the head of the Ombudsman’s Office, in a post on X on Thursday, as troops were escorted out of the rural community in Guaviare province.

The soldiers had been detained on Monday after clashes with an armed group killed at least 10 people.

Villagers then blocked roads, preventing the soldiers from leaving, in what the government of President Gustavo Petro described as a kidnapping. “We urge people not to stigmatise the community,” Marin added.

Officials from the government, the Ombudsman’s Off

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