Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday declared a state of emergency over what his government called an "extremely serious military aggression" by the United States on the capital Caracas.Multiple explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard around the city.

"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. Loud explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard in Caracas around 2:00 am (0600 GMT) Saturday, an journalist reported.

The explosions come as US President Donald 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 2:15 am, although their exact location was unclear. 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 has 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 eastern Pacific Ocean since September, targeting what Washington says are drug smugglers.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)