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Venezuelan Minister of Defence Vladimir Padrino Lopez says that the majority President Nicolas’ Maduro’s security detail was killed in the Saturday morning US operation that extracted him and his wife Cilia Flores from their compound in Caracas.

On Saturday, Padrino had indicated that in the aftermath of reported US strikes on at least four military and civilian locations overnight, the country was still attempting to determine the number of deaths that had occurred.

The New York Times has however reported that Venezuelan officials estimated at least 40 to have been killed as a result of the operation, named “Absolute Resolve” by US forces.