The US has struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro along with his wife, who has been taken out of the country, President Donald Trump said on Saturday.
The US has not made such a direct intervention in Latin American since the invasion of Panama in 1989 to depose military leader Manuel Noriega.
There was no immediate confirmation from the Venezuelan government.
US Attorney General Pamela Bondi later said that Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were indicted in the Southern District of New York.
"Nicolas Maduro has been charged with Narco-Terrorism Conspiracy, Cocaine Importation Conspiracy, Possession of Machineguns and Destructive Devices, and Conspiracy to Possess Machineguns and Destructive Devices against the United States," she wrote in a post on X.
The couple, she said, would soon "face the full wrath of American justice on American soil in American courts".
The US has accused Maduro of running a "narco-state" and rigging an election. The Venezuelan leader, who succeeded Hugo Chavez to take power in 2013, has said Washington wants to take control of its oil reserves, the largest in the world.
Loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard in Caracas around 2:00am (0600 GMT) Saturday, an AFP journalist reported.
The explosions come as US President Trump, who has deployed a navy task force to the Caribbean, raised the possibility of ground strikes against Venezuela.
Sounds of explosions were still being heard around 2:15am, although their exact location was unclear.
Maduro declared a state of an emergency over what his goverment called an "extremely serious military aggression" by the United States on the capital Caracas.
"Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people," Maduro's government said.
Attacks took place in the capital of Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, the statement said.
Trump administration officials are aware of reports of explosions and aircraft over Venezuela's capital Caracas early on Saturday morning, CBS reporter Jennifer Jacobs posted on X.
Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Maduro has accused the Trump administration of seeking a change in government to gain access to Venezuela's vast oil reserves.
“At this moment they are bombing Caracas" Colombian President Gustavo Petro posted on X. "Alert everyone — they have attacked Venezuela. They are bombing with missiles. The (Organization of American States) and the UN must meet immediately."
Petro, who did not provide further information or indicate the source of his assertions, has repeatedly expressed opposition to the U.S. pressure campaign.
Trump on Monday said the United States hit and destroyed a docking area for alleged Venezuelan drug boats.
The Republican leader would not say if it was a military or CIA operation or where the strike occurred, noting only that it was "along the shore".
The attack would be the first known land strike on Venezuelan soil.
President Nicolas Maduro neither confirmed nor denied Monday's strike, but said Thursday he was open to cooperation with Washington after weeks of US military pressure.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of heading a drug cartel and says it is cracking down on trafficking, but the leftist leader denies any involvement in the narcotics trade, saying Washington is seeking to overthrow him because Venezuela has the largest known reserves of oil on Earth.
Washington has ramped up pressure on Caracas by informally closing Venezuela's airspace, imposing more sanctions and ordering the seizure of tankers loaded with Venezuelan oil.
For weeks, Trump has threatened ground strikes on drug cartels in the region, saying they would start "soon," with Monday being the first apparent example.
US forces have also carried out numerous strikes on boats in both the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers.
The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, however, prompting debate about the legality of these operations.
The deadly maritime campaign has killed at least 107 people in at least 30 strikes, according to information released by the US military.
— Additional input from Reuters
