BOGOTÁ, July 26, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Colombian guerrilla fighters on Friday freed nine civilians they had kidnapped and held for a week accusing them of delivering weapons to the military in a conflict zone, the country's human rights ombudsman said.

The seven women and two men, who the government said were part of a humanitarian mission, were taken hostage in the conflict-ridden Cauca region on Thursday last week.

They were handed over Friday to a special commission including UN staffers, said the ombudsman's office.

The so-called Central General Staff (EMC) -- a dissident faction of the FARC guerrilla army that demobilized in 2017 under a peace deal -- is in open conflict with the military in the key cocaine-growing Cauca region in southwestern Colombia.

The EMC has in recent months responded to a military offensive with car bombs and explosive drone attacks, killing two police officers and five civilians in June.

Leftist President Gustavo Petro was elected in 2022 on promises of bringing "total peace" to a country battling to extricate itself from six decades of armed conflict between leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels and the government.

But Colombia is experiencing its worst wave of violence since FARC laid down arms. Talks have broken down with many of the armed groups, and fighting continues to rage in several, mostly rural, parts of the country.