The IRA has been testing weapons in the jungles of Colombia, the country's prosecutor general has alleged.

Luis Camilo Osorio said recent attacks by FARC guerrillas had employed techniques similar to those used by the IRA.

His comments have provoked anger among supporters of three Irish republicans being held in the South American country for the past year.

Jim Monaghan, Martin McCauley and Niall Connolly are awaiting trial accused of training Colombian Marxist guerrillas.

Three Irishmen await trial in Colombia

In an exclusive interview with the BBC, Mr Osorio said he believed the IRA was linked to the rebel group.

"A recent attack in a town where 115 people were massacred, most of them women and children who were seeking refuge in a church, was carried out using these techniques - long distance mortars.

"These are techniques we are certain were taught by this group," he said.

"We are talking about a type of cylinder with explosives and we are talking about a type which consists of a series of oblong tubes where you put rockets similar to those used by the IRA."

'Very serious'

Catriona Ruane, a spokesperson for a campaign to free the three Irishmen, dismissed Mr Osorio's claims.

"His comments are very serious given he is the senior judicial figure and he should not be making any public comments about the case.

"This isn't the first time he has made comments about alleged links between the IRA and FARC.

Luis Camilo Osorio: Colombian Prosecutor General

"I have seen all the documents in relation to the case and the prosecution have not presented evidence against the men."

Earlier this year, the BBC was shown a security assessment that claimed the IRA was involved in the development of weapons in Colombia.

The document said senior figures within the IRA had sanctioned the operations in South America.

But a spokesman said the group firmly rejected "unsubstantiated allegations" about IRA activity in Colombia which he said had come from "unnamed securocrats who had continually sought to undermine the peace process".