Accused bombers nabbed

AUTHORITIES have detained six people suspected of using explosives-laden drones in a failed bid to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, in what one witness described as a terrifying attack that shook her building.

The government alleged that opposition factions conspired with assailants in Miami and Bogota, although they offered no specific evidence.

Opposition leaders decried Maduro for broadly singling out his political opponents, and they warned he may use it to further suppress his critics.

The thwarted attack comes as Venezuela is reeling from a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis and Maduro has grown increasingly isolated. Foreign nations, including the United States, are slapping economic sanctions against a growing list of officials and decrying his government as an autocratic regime.

The assailants flew two drones each packed with 1kg of C-4 plastic explosive toward Maduro, his wife and other top leaders as he spoke Saturday evening at an event celebrating the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, said Interior Minister Nestor Reverol. One of the drones was to explode above the president while the other was to detonate directly in front of him, he added.

But the military managed to knock one of the drones offcourse electronically and the other crashed into an apartment building two blocks away from where Maduro was speaking, Reverol said.

Of those arrested, Reverol said two had previous run-ins with the government, although he did not give their names or say what charges they faced.

One took part in 2014 protests that rocked the nation as it descended into an economic crisis that is now worse than the Great Depression.

Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said the attackers were aiming to decapitate Venezuela’s entire top leadership along with Maduro.

Investigators continued searching a blackened apartment building near the site while also seizing vehicles and raiding hotels.

Maduro said the “far right,” working in co-ordination with others in Bogota and Miami, including Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, were responsible. Colombia’s government has vehemently denied Santos had any role in the drone attack.