A Venezuelan soldier was shot dead Sunday at a protest against elections to President Nicolas Maduro's powerful constitution re-writing assembly, prosecutors said.

The victim was shot in the face when clashes broke out between protesters and security forces in the western town of La Grita, near the border with Colombia. 

It was the seventh killing since late Saturday and one of more than 100 in four months of unrest triggered by the leftist president's bid to rewrite the constitution.