A soldier of the Armed Forces of El Salvador lost his life on Wednesday after a confrontation with ten alleged militiamen in the town of Nueva Concepción, in the department of Chalatenango, in northern El Salvador, according to Salvadoran authorities.

The alleged militiamen allegedly ambushed soldiers of the Salvadoran Army and, in the confrontation, a member of the Armed Forces was wounded. A few hours later, he died in a military hospital, according to the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, on his Twitter account.

“We already captured the first militiaman involved and we continue in the operation to capture them all. These criminals will pay dearly for the life of our hero, no matter where they hide, we will find them,” Bukele assured.

Likewise, the Salvadoran president said that the alleged militiamen who “ambushed and murdered our hero (…) are the ones defended by some in the international community and the misnamed Human Rights NGOs”.

So far it is not known to which group the alleged militiamen are part of who would have ambushed the Salvadoran soldiers.