CARACAS, Venezuela, April 21 (UPI) -- Venezuela freed a group of Colombian soldiers Thursday detained earlier in the week while trying to return from leave, Venezuela's Globovsion TV reported.
The eight soldiers were released from detention at a military base in western Venezuela, Colombia's embassy in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, reported.
The troops said they were crossing Venezuelan territory to avoid an altercation with Colombia's left-wing rebels, who often prowl along the two nation's shared border.
In January, Colombia and Venezuela were in a brief spat over the abduction of a left-wing Colombian rebel leader in Caracas. Colombia admitted paying Venezuelan police to pick up the rebel leader and bring him to Colombia to face trial.
Colombia has been battling Marxist rebel groups for more than 40 years.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called the move a "violation of Venezuela's sovereignty" and temporarily cut economic and diplomatic ties. Colombia has accused Chavez of supporting, and even arming, Colombian rebels, an assertion the Venezuelan president has denied.
