Colombian guerrilla group ELN denied any involvement Monday in the kidnapping of a 10-year- old girl in the northeast of the country at the end of last month.
The guerrilla group said in a statement that it had checked all its units and “confirms none is responsible for this act.”
In the statement released on its website, the ELN blame the Colombian army of trying to frame the ELN and fellow-insurgent group FARC as perpetrators of the kidnapping that has caused outrage across Colombia.
According to the guerrillas, the Colombian army released a video in which it “treacherously used symbols of the ELN, showing a supposed guerrilla reading a false statement” in which fellow-guerrilla group FARC was blamed for the kidnapping.
The FARC last week also denied any involvement in the kidnapping of the daughter of the mayor of the town of Fortul.
The 10-year-old Nhora Valentina Muñoz was kidnapped on September 29 by an unknown armed group. The FARC and ELN are highly active in the Arauca department where the girl was kidnapped.