Multiple explosions were heard early on Saturday in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, according to media reports and footage from the scene.
The blasts come amid a deepening stand-off between Venezuela and the administration of US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly accused the country’s authorities of links with drug cartels – a charge Caracas has denied.
At least seven explosions and the sound of low-flying aircraft were heard at around 2am local time, according to the Associated Press.
RT’s Murad Gadziev, who is on site in Caracas, said jets and possibly drones had been heard overhead, adding that there had been reports of helicopters – including what he described as Apache attack helicopters and a Chinook troop carrier – operating over the capital. He suggested that the activity could indicate US military operations.
CBS’s Jennifer Jacobs reported, citing unnamed US officials, that “President Trump ordered strikes on sites inside Venezuela, including military facilities.”
In a statement, Venezuelan authorities accused the US of staging the attack. Officials said they “reject, repudiate and denounce before the international community the grave military aggression perpetrated by the current Government of the United States of America,” saying that Washington had targeted both civilian and military locations in Caracas, and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
They added that “the objective of this attack is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, particularly its oil and minerals, attempting to break the political independence of the nation by force.”
Venezuelan sources told Sky News Arabia that “the home of the Venezuelan defense minister and a port in the capital were bombed”. A witness told Reuters that a part of the capital had been left without electricity.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said, without assigning blame to any particular country, that “right now they are bombing Caracas. Alert to the whole world, they have attacked Venezuela.” He also urged an emergency session of the UN Security Council.
The explosions come amid heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas. Trump has repeatedly accused Venezuela’s government of facilitating large-scale drug trafficking and has authorized expanded US military operations targeting suspected smuggling routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has rejected the allegations, accusing the US of aggression and of using anti-drug operations as a pretext to topple his government. He has warned that any direct military action on his country would be met with resistance.
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