During a speech Saturday, President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela survived an assassination attempt, and the firepower came from drones flying above him.

Chaos broke out during the President’s speech at the 81st anniversary of the country’s National Guard in the nation’s capital in Caracas. Live footage shows Maduro (pictured) and his entourage look up following a loud bang, after which video footage shows soldiers scattering in the streets.

Maduro wasn’t injured, according to reports, although several National Guard soldiers were after two drones laden with explosives went off.

The BBC reports that the perpetrators have already been arrested and they will face “maximum punishment.” Interior Minister Reverol said at least six terrorists were involved in the attack.

Who was behind it? According to reports, Maduro believes either Colombia or Venezuelan exiles within the U.S. could have been behind the attack, although both the Colombian government and U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton have said the accusations are baseless.

There have also been rumors that the explosion could have been a “false flag” attack, although Geoff Ramsey, the assistant director for Venezuela at the Washington Office on Latin America dismissed that. “Staged or not, the end result will be the same,” Ramsey told The Guardian. “Maduro is certain to use this to justify further repression of the opposition, and to rally his ruling circle around a perceived enemy threat.”

If indeed terrorists used the drones in the attack, it points further toward a future in which the ever-developing flying machines are used for nefarious means. In May this year, the FBI said a criminal gang had prevented a hostage raid by employing drones literally to get in the faces of agents.

U.S. authorities have said that drones are more often being used as means as countersurveillance by criminals, sometimes watching the police watching them. The FBI added that drones have even been used to fly over police departments to see who might be coming forward as a witness to crimes so they can later be threatened by criminals.

Image: Joka Madruga/Flickr