FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Three elite Frankfurt police officers who were involved in an off-duty brawl at a brothel have been detained by police and are under investigation for assault, a Frankfurt police spokesman said Tuesday.

Confirming a report in Bild newspaper, the spokesman said the three officers of the elite SEK anti-terrorism unit had been transferred to another department pending the outcome of the investigation by the state prosecutors' office.

The three officers, aged 30, 32 and 35, were in a red-light district of Germany's financial capital after an office party. They got into a dispute with the brothel's bouncers that turned violent. Police arriving detained the three off-duty colleagues.

(Writing by Erik Kirschbaum)