Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says he has survived an assassination attempt involving explosive drones.
Mr. Maduro was speaking at a military event in Caracas when the alleged attack occurred.
Live footage of Mr. Maduro’s speech shows the president suddenly looking upwards – startled – and dozens of soldiers running away.
Mr. Maduro has blamed Colombia for the attack – something denied by Bogota as a “baseless” accusation.
Seven soldiers were injured, and several people were later arrested, the Venezuelan authorities said.
The incident happened when Mr. Maduro was speaking at the event to mark the 81st anniversary of the national army.
Two drones loaded with explosives went off near the president’s stand, Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said.
Mr. Maduro later said in a national address: “A flying object exploded near me, a big explosion. Seconds later there was a second explosion.”
Photos on social media showed bodyguards protecting Mr. Maduro with bulletproof shields after the alleged attack.
Mr. Maduro accused neighbouring Colombia and elements within the US of instigating “a right-wing plot” to kill him.
He added that he had “no doubt” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was “behind this attack.”
The Venezuelan leader, who has previously accused the US of plotting against him, provided no evidence to back his claim.
The Colombian government has denied any involvement, saying there is “no basis” to Mr. Maduro’s allegations.
By contrast, Mr. Rodriguez accused Venezuela’s right-wing opposition of carrying out the attack.
“After losing the vote, they failed again,” Mr. Rodriguez said.
He was referring to May’s presidential elections, where Mr. Maduro was re-elected for another six-year term.
However, Hasler Inglesias, a youth leader with the opposition Voluntad Popular Party, told the BBC: “We didn’t know what was happening. It’s hard to believe that the opposition is going to make an attempt when they have never made an attempt in this way in 20 years.”
Meanwhile, a little-known group called Soldiers in T-shirts said on social media that it was behind the alleged attack.
It said it had planned to fly two explosives-laden drones at Mr. Maduro, but they were shot down by the military.
The claim was not backed up by any evidence, and the group did not respond to media requests for comment.
To add further to the confusion, firefighters at the scene disputed the government’s version of events, the Associated Press reports.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, three of them said the incident was actually a gas tank explosion inside an apartment, but did not provide further details, the news agency says.
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Athletes, fans slam Donald Trump for insulting LeBron James
United States President, Mr. Donald Trump has sparked uproar online after taking aim at basketball superstar LeBron James, with many social media users calling the US president “racist” and a “bully.”
In a tweet late on Friday, Trump questioned the intelligence of the three-time NBA champion, following an interview on CNN with host Don Lemon, in which James criticised the Republican president for “dividing the sport.”
“Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do,” Trump said.
“I like Mike!” he added, referring to NBA legend Michael Jordan, who along with James is widely considered as one of the greatest basketball players ever.
In the wide-ranging one-on-one interview which was first aired on Monday with a repeat broadcast on Friday, Lemon asked James: “What would you say to the [US] president if he was sitting right here?”
“I would never sit across from him,” the four-time MVP replied, before adding: “I’d sit across from Barack [Obama], though.”
James, who signed recently for the Los Angeles Lakers, was being interviewed about a school he recently opened for underprivilegded children in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, among other topics.
Reacting to Trump’s tweet, fellow athletes, sports writers and fans jumped to James’ defence and criticised the US president, while Jordan also offered his support.
“I support LeBron James,” Jordan said in a statement to the Associated Press news agency on Saturday. “He’s doing an amazing job for his community.”
American football Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe tweeted: “It should be beneath the dignity of a sitting US president to take racist shots at Don Lemon and LeBron James.”
NBA player Karl-Anthony Towns, who plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves, questioned Trump’s priorities.
“So let me get this straight: Flint, Missouri, has dirty water still, but you worried about an interview about a man doing good for education and generations of kids in his hometown?” He asked the president on Twitter.
Many also drew comparison between James’ new school for at-risk children and the defunct Trump University, a for-profit educational institution, which was shut down following multiple lawsuits.
Others took aim at Trump’s controversial immigration policy separating migrant children from their detained families, which saw many minors reportedly held in cages at border facilities.
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Anti-semitic graffiti on Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel’s house
Police in Romania are investigating anti-semitic graffiti found on the walls of the house where Auschwitz survivor Elie Wiesel was born.
Comments painted in pink included the remark that Wiesel, who died in 2016, was “in hell with Hitler.”
They were quickly removed.
Wiesel became famous after writing about his teenage years in Nazi concentration camps.
He devoted his life to ensuring Nazi atrocities would not be forgotten.
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Police spokeswoman Florina Metes said officers were studying CCTV footage from the house, in northern Romanian town of Sighetu Marmatiei, where Wiesel was born in 1928.
“This grotesque act represents an attack not only on the memory of Elie Wiesel but on all the victims of the Holocaust,” said a statement by Romania’s National Institute for Holocaust studies, which is named after the writer.
In 1944 Wiesel’s family was deported to Auschwitz, where his mother and one of his sisters were killed in the death camps.
His father died at Buchenwald.
Wiesel’s use of the term Holocaust helped cement the word’s association with Nazi atrocities against the Jews.
In 1986, he was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for his role in speaking out against violence, repression and racism.
After his death, the head of the World Jewish Congress said he was “undoubtedly one of the great Jewish teachers and thinkers of the past 100 years.”
