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.

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.

An attack on a military base in eastern Colombia killed two soldiers and injured at least 21, Colombia's military said on Tuesday, as tensions escalate between Colombia's government and one of the nation's largest remaining rebel groups.

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.