DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, The southern area of the city, near a major military base, is reportedly without electricity.Explosions have been heard and plumes of smoke are rising in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, according to news reports and witnesses, amid spiralling tensions with the United States.Video footage obtained by Al Jazeera showed balls of fire and thick smoke coming from a structure next to a body of water in Caracas early on Saturday.Venezuela’s government, the Pentagon and White House have yet to comment.Citing sources, Al Jazeera’s Lucia Newman, who is reporting from Santiago in Chile, said the explosion occurred near or around Fortuna, the main military base in Caracas.“Fortuna is a key military base there. A series of explosions were reportedly heard throughout the area followed by a blackout,” Newman said.Our correspondent added that there is a “presumption” that the US has something to do with the incident.“We don’t know yet how this explosion happened. There is also a possibility that this is an act of an internal sabotage among elements of the military who are trying to oust President Nicolas Maduro,” Newman noted.Sisi De Flavis, a journalist based in Caracas, told Al Jazeera that she heard what sounded like a huge truck crashing followed by an intense shaking of the ground.“The skies started to lit up. Then there was a ball of orange fire glowing. You can still hear planes flying over right now, although there has not been any explosions since then,” De Flavis told Al Jazeera.The Associated Press news agency reported at least seven explosions and l …
