Colombia has suspended peace talks with the National Liberation Army, or ELN, after blaming the rebel group for an attack that killed two soldiers and injured more than 20.

An attack with explosives by Colombian leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), which left more than two dozen troops injured and two dead, has "practically" ended peace talks, Colombia's President Gustavo Petro said on Tuesday.

Bogota, September 19 (RHC)-- The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, ended the dialogue process with the National Liberation Army (ELN), after an attack that left two dead and 27 wounded. The attack was carried out on Tuesday at the military base of Puerto Jordán, in the department of Arauca, and attributed by the Government to the ELN.

Recently, the ELN has been spreading into rural areas abandoned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), the largest rebel group, which made a peace deal with Colombia's government in 2016.

The decision is another devastating blow to President Gustavo Petro's cornerstone total peace policy, which looked to remove the ELN from its role in the Andean country's six-decades of internal armed conflict.