BOGOTA (Reuters) -At least 34 soldiers were kidnapped by armed civilians in a jungle area of southeastern Colombia after clashes that left 11 guerrillas dead, including a commander of a dissident faction of the former FARC rebel group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Tuesday.

The clashes occurred in a rural part of the El Retorno municipality in the southeastern province of Guaviare and involved members of the Central General Staff (EMC), a group of former FARC fighters who rejected a 2016 peace deal with the government.

Sanchez said the soldiers were taken as they were evacuating the area following a military operation that killed an EMC commander and 10 other rebels.

"This is an illegal, criminal action by people in civilian clothing," Sanchez told reporters. "This is a kidnapp

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