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Saturday, August 12, 2006

Colombia probes Venezuela military incursion

BOGOTA, Colombia, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Colombian authorities said on Friday they were trying to determine if dozens of Venezuelan troops crossed the border in pursuit of gasoline smugglers two days ago.

Colombia and Venezuela share a rugged 1,400-mile (2,200-km) frontier that runs through barren flatlands, mountains and jungle. Kidnapping, smuggling and violent spillover from Colombia's conflict are common along the border.

"A police unit has been dispatched to the zone, where according to the reports there was an incursion, to collect evidence and inform the foreign ministry," a Defense Ministry official said.

Government officials said 70 Venezuelan troops in a helicopter and trucks crossed over into Colombia, threatened local peasants and fired into the air. Venezuelan soldiers have clashed before with illegal armed Colombian groups along the border.

Violence from Colombia's four-decade conflict declined after President Alvaro Uribe cracked down on leftist rebels and disarmed right-wing paramilitary groups. But illegal armed groups still control large parts of rural Colombia where they protect crops to make the cocaine that fuels the violence.
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