Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was speaking at an event to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the army
Footage of the speech, which took place in the capital, Caracas, shows the president and his wife Cilia Flores suddenly looking up after a loud bang is heard.
They appear visibly shaken before dozens of soldiers can be seen fleeing the scene and the live transmission of the event cuts off.
Maduro has since stated that it was an attempt on his life involving explosives attached to drones.
His communications minister, Jorge Rodriguez, said two drones loaded with explosives went off near the president’s head.
ÚLTIMA HORA | VIDEO – Situación irregular en la avenida Bolívar de Caracas durante Cadena Nacional de Maduro en acto con la GNB.
VTV cortó de emergencia la transmisión oficial. pic.twitter.com/SMZeFZlRv4— AlbertoRodNews (@AlbertoRodNews) August 4, 2018
The president was unarmed in the incident although seven soldiers in the national guard were injured and several people were arrested, according to the Venezuelan authorities.
He has since accused the Colombian and Venezuelan ultra-right groups of being responsible for the attack, stating that he had “no doubt” that Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was “behind the attack”, along with unknown financial backers from the US.
“This is an attempt to kill me,” he said.
“They have tried to assassinate me today and everything points to the Venezuelan ultra-right in alliance with the Colombian far right and that the name of Juan Manuel Santos is behind this attack”.
“I hope that the Trump government is willing to fight these terrorist groups. Whoever carried out this attack has failed,” he added.
After the explosion, Venezuelan guards surrounded the president with bulletproof shields, as you can see below:
ÚLTIMA HORA | FOTOS – Lo que no se vio tras incidente contra Nicolás Maduro en la avenida Bolívar de Caracas.
Cortesía: Xinhua pic.twitter.com/KFx9fBLlgA— AlbertoRodNews (@AlbertoRodNews) August 4, 2018
Colombia has called Maduro’s allegations “absurd” and “baseless”.
Local firefighters, however, have since stated that the sound heard was in fact due to a gas tank exploding inside a nearby apartment.
Three officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disputed Rodriguez’s version of events.
