TWO more journalists were reported missing Tuesday in a lawless region where Colombian security forces were already carrying out an extensive search for a prominent Spanish journalist who disappeared over the weekend.

The two journalists from the right-leaning TV network RCN had traveled to the Catatumbo region to cover the hunt for Salud Hernandez-Mora, a longtime correspondent for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo whose weekly column in the Bogota daily El Tiempo is one of the most read in Colombia.

Authorities declined to call Hernandez-Mora’s disappearance a kidnapping, and no one had claimed responsibility for her disappearance, but speculation heightened that she could have been taken hostage by the rebel National Liberation Army, the ELN. It is one of several armed groups and drug trafficking gangs dominant in the mountainous area bordering Venezuela.

Journalists from the Spanish news agency EFE and local network Caracol were detained briefly by armed men Monday covering the search. Diego Velosa from Caracol said he was stopped by a group identifying themselves as members of the ELN and forced to hand over equipment during a tense standoff. He said he was told by his captors that they were also holding RCN journalist Diego D’Pablos and his cameraman Carlos Melo. Hernandez-Mora had not been seen or heard from since Saturday, when she was spotted arguing with an unidentified man.

Pressure was mounting on President Juan Manuel Santos, who is struggling to maintain support for peace talks with the Colombia’s two rebel groups, who Colombians overwhelmingly despise. On Tuesday, he ordered the head of the police and army to travel to Catatumbo to oversee the search.

(SD-Agencies)