Venezuela detains Colombia troops

Farc rebel Rodrigo Granda was captured in Venezuela in January

At least eight Colombian soldiers have been detained by Venezuelan authorities at a border post.

The soldiers, who had been on leave for several days, were apparently arrested while trying to return to their unit.

The governor of the north-eastern Colombian province of Arauca, Julio Acosta Bernal, urged their release.

A diplomatic row broke out in January when a Colombian rebel leader was captured on Venezuelan soil by bounty hunters and handed over to Bogota.

The Colombians, who were unarmed and in civilian clothing, were detained at the weekend on the Cucuta-Arauca road in the Venezuelan state of Apure, close to the border.

They are being held at the headquarters of the Venezuelan army's Operations Theatre No 1.

Mr Acosta said they had tried to take a short-cut through Venezuelan territory without having the necessary permits, because they did not want to be punished by their superiors for returning late from leave.

The governor added that members of the Colombian security forces were often forced to use Venezuelan roads, because of the danger they faced from patrols run by the guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

There was initially some confusion over the details of the arrests, because the Venezuelan authorities had also detained a group of five armed Colombians in a separate incident in Amazonas state.

The five are believed to belong to the right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC).