Twenty-eight police officers and one soldier held hostage in southwest Colombia were released Saturday, according to an Agence France-Presse team on the ground.

At around noon Saturday, residents of the community of La Hacienda in the department of Cauca told the detainees they were free to go.

The men, held since Thursday, collected their riot gear and left along a dirt road, escorted by residents, AFP saw.

They headed toward the nearby town of El Plateado, where a commission from the state Ombudsman's Office was waiting for them.

Upon arriving at El Plateado, the caravan stopped at a gas station where United Nations officials and a group of about 20 soldiers were stationed.

The 29 men were detained Thursday after a day of clashes between residents and security forces, part of a government military operation aimed at ending drug-related violence in a region with one of the highest concentrations of coca crops in Colombia.

The government said the officers were being held by a dissident FARC guerrilla group, the Estado Mayor Central (EMC), for whom the Canon del Micay region is a stronghold.

As he left La Hacienda, Major Nilson Bedoya, the soldier in the group, said that throughout the ordeal he could not help but think of his family.

"My family, my wife, my son, who are waiting for me at home," he said, in a pained voice, as he carried his gear on his shoulder.

Legitimate force?

In an interview with W Radio earlier Saturday, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez threatened to use "the legitimate force of the state" to have the troops released.

Sanchez and other representatives of the leftist government of President Gustavo Petro were to meet with residents of the departmental capital, Popayan, to listen to local concerns.

Officials said that guerillas and members of the public confronted and overwhelmed security services Thursday who were trying to reestablish state control in two municipalities.

Government images showed gangs pelting a flaming armored vehicle with rocks, and riot police detonating smoke grenades amid a running gun battle.

"Stiven was set on fire alive," said one of the men who was detained, referring to a colleague who had to jump into a pool of water to save himself.

Petro accused the EMC of "using the civilian population" to attack troops.

The kidnappings were a major embarrassment — and a stern challenge — for Colombia's government, which is struggling with its worst unrest in a decade involving spasms of violence in several parts of the country.

Since October, Bogota has been trying to retake control of parts of Cauca from the EMC.

Petro's government is proposing an ambitious crop substitution program to combat the drug trafficking economy, a strategy that locals have denounced as a campaign of "forced eradication" of coca crops.

"There is not going to be eradication of crops by force," said Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, accusing cartels of trying to deceive the local population.

"We will continue to work for these lands so that people can have a better future," said Bedoya, the soldier. "The peasants were sold the idea that we are their enemies, but we are their best allies."