THESSALONIKI: The Tur­­kish army says two of its soldiers were released from Greek custody after they were arrested on Sun­day for entering Greece illegally.

The army said the soldiers were trailing migrants to keep them from crossing into neighbouring Greece, but accidently passed the border themselves.

A Greek army spokesman said earlier that two Turkish soldiers were arrested along the border in northeastern Greece.

He denied Greek media reports that gunfire was exc­h­anged during the incident.

The spokesman reque­sted anonymity because the case was under investigation.

He said it was not clear how the service members entered Greece and the army was investigating if others attempted to come into the country.

The Turkish army said the soldiers were detained at 11am and released after 7 hours after talks with Greek authorities.

Turkey arrested two Greek soldiers in March. Greek officials said they had veered off course while on patrol near the border. They were detained until last month, when they were released to Greece pending trial.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2018