BOGOTA: Rebels from the main splinter group of Colombia’s now-defunct FARC guerrillas claimed responsibility Sunday for kidnapping a Colombian soldier serving in the French Foreign Legion, stating that he is alive.

Jose Olger Melo Charry was taken hostage on August 6 while traveling on a road in the department of Narino in southwest Colombia, the Colombian Army reported on Thursday.

Charry was “intercepted and taken prisoner” by units of the Central General Staff (EMC), the group said in a communique in French, the authenticity of which was confirmed to AFP by a police source.