Explosions, loud noises and low-flying aircraft have been heard in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, with the president of neighbouring Colombia claiming on social media that the country was under attack.
“Right now they are bombing Caracas … bombing it with missiles,” Gustavo Petro wrote on X, calling for an immediate emergency session of the UN security council.
At least seven explosions were heard about 2am local time and people in various neighbourhoods rushed to the street, the Associated Press reported.
“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker.
Eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke pouring from two key military installations in Caracas: the La Carlota military airfield at the heart of the city and the Fuerte Tiuna military base where Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, has long been thought to live.
Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The explosions come after a five-month US pressure campaign against Maduro, which many analysts believe is designed to topple the Venezuelan leader. Since August, Donald Trump has ordered a massive military buildup off Venezuela’s northern coast and conducted a series of deadly airstrikes on supposed “narco boats”.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to request for comment on Saturday morning.
Trump has repeatedly promised land operations in Venezuela, amid efforts to pressure Maduro to leave office, including expanded sanctions, a ramped-up US military presence in the region and more than two dozen strikes on vessels allegedly involved in trafficking drugs in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
The US has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country’s economy.
This is a developing story …