U.S. Officials Shot in Caracas

U.S. Officials Shot in Caracas, Two US embassy employees have been shot at a strip club in Venezuela's capital, police and US State Department officials said.

"Medical staff inform us that their injuries are not life-threatening," US State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told reporters in Washington.

Mr Ventrell was not specific about where in Caracas the two men were when they were injured, but noted that they were at "some sort of social spot or somewhere outside of the embassy grounds".

The circumstances of the shooting remained unclear, with conflicting reports over whether it happened inside or outside the Antonella 2012 nightclub.

Police said the two US officials were shot following a brawl inside the club, which is in the basement of a shopping centre in the upper-middle-class Chacao neighbourhood.

The club's Twitter account features racy photos of nude or scantily clad women pole dancing, posing inside cages or reclining on beds.

"Apparently it was a fight originating in a nightspot where these people were attacked and shots were fired at them and they suffered gunshot wounds," police spokesman Douglas Rico told TV channel Globovision at the health clinic where the victims were taken.

He said one was shot in the leg and abdomen and the other was shot in the abdomen.

A police official identified one of the victims as military attache Roberto Ezequiel Rosas.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorised to release the information publicly, said Mr Rosas was shot in the right leg during an argument outside the night club.

The other man has been named in reports as Paul Marwin.

Local media reports also said the pair were military attaches at the embassy, but neither the State Department nor the embassy in Caracas would confirm those reports.

"My understanding is that they are other agency personnel, not from the State Department," Mr Ventrell said.

Venezuela's government expelled two US military attaches in March for allegedly talking to members of the country's armed forces. Washington responded by ejecting two Venezuelan diplomats.

The United States and Venezuela have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010 and have had strained relations since Caracas accused Washington of backing a coup that briefly ousted the late Hugo Chavez in 2002.

Venezuela has the highest murder rate in South America and several diplomats have been assaulted in recent months in the country.