Caracas: The death toll from more than three weeks of political unrest in Venezuela has risen to 17, Attorney General Luisa Ortega said Friday.
She told reporters that another 261 people have been injured in the violence that has accompanied large protests against the government of President Nicolas Maduro.
The previous death toll was 14. Ortega said that among the latest victims was a youth who was shot to death in the restive central state of Carabobo while dismantling a barricade.
"Cleaning the street he was shot," she said, noting that her office also was investigating 27 cases of human rights violations, but provided no details.
Protests in Caracas and other cities have at times spilled over into clashes between masked youths and security forces and groups of unidentified armed civilians.
Earlier this week, the government announced the arrests of Venezuelan intelligence agents in connection with the shooting deaths of two people at a Caracas protest earlier this month.
Some 600 people, including a prominent opposition leader, have been arrested since the student-led protests began on February 4 in the western city of San Cristobal, later spreading across the country.
