Bogota, Colombia ? Rebels killed 24 Colombian soldiers who were protecting government workers Tuesday during a coca eradication effort, an army general said. It was the deadliest rebel attack in a year marked by hundreds of army deaths.

Gen. Hernando Ortiz said the troops came under attack by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, as they provided security to workers who were destroying crops of coca, the plant used to make cocaine.

The attack took place near Vista Hermosa, 105 miles south of Bogota, said Ortiz, the army’s No. 2 commander.