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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Venezuela vows to fend off ‘coup’ after grenade attack

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Caracas:  Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro put the military on alert on Wednesday against an alleged coup after a renegade police detective claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the Supreme Court, demanding the embattled president quit.Caracas:  Venezuela’s leader Nicolas Maduro put the military on alert on Wednesday against an alleged coup after a renegade police detective claimed responsibility for a grenade attack on the Supreme Court, demanding the embattled president quit.Four grenades were hurled at the high court from a helicopter and bullets were fired at the interior ministry on Tuesday, Maduro said, in a potentially dramatic escalation of the violence gripping the oil-rich South American country.The attack was claimed in a video released online by a man identified by media and the government as 36-year-old Oscar Perez.Beyond his police work, Perez has acted in a Venezuelan action film, Suspended Death, and has posted photographs on social media of himself posing with weapons.Maduro has for months been fending off calls for elections to replace him, from opponents who blame him for a desperate economic crisis that has sparked hunger and deadly violence. He so far retains the public backing of the military high command — a factor that analysts say is decisive if he is to remain in power.Venezuela has seen three attempted military coups since 1992.   The government named Perez as the author of the attack, saying he had stolen a police helicopter.  No one was hurt in the incidents, Maduro said. He branded the attack part of an “escalation” by right-wing “coup” plotters.“I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace,” he said in remarks broadcast from the Miraflores presidential palace.“Sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terrorist attack.”Photos circulating on social media showed a helicopter flying over Caracas as explosions were heard.In the video published by Venezuelan media, Perez called on Maduro to resign and for early elections to be held. — AFP


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