French journalist missing
April 29, 2012
A French television journalist remains missing in Colombia following an attack by leftist rebels on an army column on Saturday morning that claimed four lives.
Colombia's defense ministry said three soldiers and a police officer were killed in the attack and that five security force members were also missing.
It identified the missing journalist as 35-year-old Romeo Langlois and said he was accompanying the soldiers on an anti-drug mission in the southern state of Caqueta. In a statement, news network France 24 said Langlois was a freelancer working on assignment for it.
The defense ministry said four soldiers were also injured in the clash with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.
A French embassy official speaking on condition of anonymity said Colombian authorities had launched a search operation for those missing.
The FARC, which is funded largely by the cocaine trade, has been at war with the Colombian government since 1964.
The last French national held by the FARC was Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian senator and presidential candidate. She was abducted in February 2002 and freed by the Colombian military in July 2008.
tj/mz (APE, AFP)