President Nicolas Maduro narrowly escaped a series of explosions which abruptly broke out while he was giving a speech in the crisis-hit capital of Caracas on Saturday.

Several drones with explosives detonated close to the leader while he was addressing a crowd, according to the country’s Information Minister.

TERRIFYING MOMENT EXPLOSIONS ARE HEARD

The response to the attack was broadcast by state news network NTN24 Venezuela.

The footage shows Mr Maduro standing alongside his wife, Cilia Flores, while he gives a speech on the country’s economy.

A loud bang sounds from above, and he abruptly stops speaking and gazes upwards, looking startled.

A group of bodyguards then rapidly swoop in with shields to escort the leader to safety with what appear to be bullet-proof sheets.

The footage also shows hundreds of soldiers lined up as part of the procession on Avenue Bolivar, who run off in different directions after the explosion occurs.

The broadcast is then abruptly cut off.

Mr Maduro had been giving a speech during the celebration of the Nation Guard’s 81st anniversary, wearing the presidential banner.

“To the conscious Venezuela, we are going to bet for the good of our country, the hour of the economic recovery has come and we need...’ Mr Maduro was saying before the cameras suddenly moved away from him.

FAR-RIGHT AND US BLAMED FOR ‘ASSASSINATION’ ATTEMPT

The Venezulean government has blamed the country’s far-right, the United States and Colombia for the attack.

Appearing back on state television a few hours after the incident, Mr Maduro said the explosions were part of an “assassination” attempt.

“It was an attack to kill me, they tried to assassinate me today,” he said, speaking of a “flying object (that) exploded in front of me”.

He said some of those involved were arrested and an investigation was under way.

The President accused neighbouring Colombia and unidentified “financiers” in the United States for the attack, while members of his government blamed the far-right opposition.

“I have no doubt that the name (Colombian President) Juan Manuel Santos is behind this attack,” he said.

He added that initial investigations “indicate that various of those financing it live in the United States, in the state of Florida”.

“I hope that President Donald Trump is ready to fight these terrorist groups,” he said.

Minister of Communication Jorge Rodriguez described the incident as as an attempted hit job on the socialist leader.

“This is an attack against President Nicolas Maduro,” he said in a brief televised appearance after the event. “All of the work we have done immediately after has allowed us to establish with evidence that it was an assassination attempt.”

“Whoever carried out this attack failed,” he added.

Mr Maduro was unharmed, but the Minister did note seven National Guard soldiers were injured in the explosion.

He did not say whether the drones had dropped bombs or been used as missiles on the leader.

But firefighteers have disputed the government’s version of events, denying there was an assassination attempt on the leader.

Three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the incident was actually a gas tank explosion inside an apartment.

Smoke could be seen coming out of a building window at the site of the incident.

IRON-FISTED RULE

The parade Mr Maduro attended was to mark the one-year anniversary of the Constitutional Assembly, a legislative body packed with Mr Maduro loyalists that arrogated powers from the opposition-ruled National Assembly.

The head of the assembly, Diosdado Cabello, tweeted that Mr Maduro and the assembled military chiefs had survived a “terrorist attack” he blamed on the opposition.

“The right insists on violence to take areas it can’t through votes,” he wrote.

Mr Maduro has remained in power over Venezuela, a major oil exporting nation, despite a collapsing economy and a long-running political crisis that has seen his country isolated internationally.

Hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans have fled the country, where food and medicine are in very short supply, and where inflation this year could reach as high as one million percent according to the International Monetary Fund.

Mr Maduro, a 55-year-old Socialist leader who took over from his late mentor Hugo Chavez in 2013, has effectively sidelined the fractured opposition through control of the courts and the electoral body — and undinting support from the military, which holds key posts in his government.

Mr Maduro often accuses the opposition and the United States of working together to foment a “coup” to topple him.

He says the economic malaise gripping Venezuela is an “economic war” and any unrest is plotted by foreign powers.

— with wires