Ecuadorian journalists kidnapped near border

Authorities say two journalists working with a newspaper in Ecuador have been kidnapped near the country’s conflict-hit border with Colombia.

Interior minister Cesar Navas said yesterday that the journalists and their driver disappeared after passing through an Ecuadorean military checkpoint and being warned of the dangerous conditions ahead.

According to officials, the El Comercio news team was taken captive on Monday morning and later transported to Colombia.

Authorities say they are in contact with the alleged perpetrators. Violence along Ecuador’s northern border has increased in recent weeks as officials clash with drug trafficking groups and dissident excombatants of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.