French Journalist Missing After FARC Attacks Colombian Forces

Military officials in Colombia say a French journalist is missing after a leftist rebel attack on army forces during a mission to destroy cocaine processing laboratories.

Officials said three Colombian soldiers and one police officer were also killed in the fighting on April 28.

The French reporter was identified as Romeo Langlois, and reports say he has worked for the Paris newspaper “Le Figaro” and France 24 television.

The Colombian Defense Ministry said the journalist was accompanying troops on a counternarcotics mission in southern Caqueta state when the clash broke out with suspected fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

FARC has been fighting the Colombian government since 1964 and relies on the illicit cocaine trade for much of its financing.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP