The Colombian army has rescued 28 people kidnapped by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas in the southwest of the country, the military said on Tuesday.

The 28 people were abducted by the rebels in Florida, the southwestern state of Valle del Cauca, while traveling by bus and private vehicle.

Col. Alfonso Yunda Martinez, commander of the army's Codazzi Battalion, revealed that a soldier named Gerson Cortes Guevara waskilled during the rescue operation.

Yunda said the FARC's Gabriel Galvis front has conducted massive abduction to demand money.

Meanwhile, at least 25 travelers were also kidnapped by the FARC on Tuesday, after the guerrillas killed a soldier near the city of Cali, the military of the area said.

The 17,000-strong FARC is the oldest and largest leftist guerrilla group in Colombia and is financed by drug operation and kidnappings.

Colombia has been locked in a four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries fight one another. The conflicts kill an average of 3,000 people every year.

Source: Xinhua