A Venezuelan soldier was killed in a gunfight with an armed gang along the border with Colombia, where smugglers, left-wing rebels and rightist paramilitaries often operate, officials said on Monday. The soldier was killed after a Venezuelan ranger patrol clashed with around 10 unidentified gunmen over the weekend in western Apure State in the latest violence along the volatile frontier, military officials said. "The soldiers were asking for documentation when the men produced weapons and they clashed. The soldier went down in an exchange of gunfire," an officer at the Guasdualito military base in Apure State told Reuters by telephone. The national CICPC investigative police agency probing the incident confirmed the soldier's death but would not provide more details. Defense Ministry officials did not return calls to comment on whether they believed the armed group belonged to Colombian Marxist FARC rebels, right-wing paramilitaries or criminals who smuggle drugs and contraband gasoline between the countries.
