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Caracas (AFP)

Exiled Venezuelan opposition leader Julio Borges has denounced a purported assassination bid on President Nicolas Maduro involving an explosives-laden drone as a staged "farce."

"Neither the country nor the world believe you when it comes to this farce of an attack, we all know that it was staged to persecute and repress those of us who oppose your dictatorship," Borges wrote on Twitter.

Maduro and his government said the president had been targeted on Saturday by two flying drones each carrying a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of powerful C-4 explosives.

They have blamed a plot involving Borges, Colombia and other opposition lawmakers, financed by unnamed figures in the US state of Florida.

Borges is one of the most prominent figures of the Venezuelan opposition and a member of the Primero Justicia (Justice First) party of former presidential candidate Henrique Capriles.

© 2018 AFP