Maduro: Helicopter Hurled Grenades at Venezuela Supreme Court
Local Editor
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Tuesday that a helicopter dropped two grenades on the country's Supreme Court building in a "terror attack" against the government.
"I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace," he said in remarks delivered from the Miraflores presidential palace.
Maduro said he has put the military on alert to respond to the assault.
"Sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terror attack," he declared.
He did not say when the attack is supposed to have occurred, and said no one was injured and that one of the grenades failed to detonate.
In his speech, Maduro, 54, said that in addition to firing on Venezuela's high court, the helicopter flew over the Justice and Interior Ministeries.
The president, who for weeks has been thundering about coup plots against him, said the aircraft was flown by a pilot who worked for his former Interior and Justice minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres, from whom he is now estranged.
Earlier Tuesday, Maduro repeated revelations of a US-backed coup attempt and angrily warned President Donald Trump that Venezuela would fight back against such a move.
His comments came a day after he announced the arrests of five opponents he accused of plotting against him to clear the way for a US invasion.
"If Venezuela were dragged into chaos and violence... we would fight," Maduro bellowed in a speech to supporters.
If a coup prevented his side fulfilling his contested reform plans, he said, "We would achieve it by arms."
He said that an armed intervention in his country would spark a crisis that would dwarf those caused by conflicts in the Middle East.
Addressing Trump, he said: "You are responsible for restraining the madness of the Venezuelan right-wing."
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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