Two civilians were killed in their car near the Oscar Machado Zoluaga Airport in Charallave, Venezuela by an alleged U.S. airstrike early in the morning on January 3, 2026. The airstrikes reportedly occurred during U.S. operations to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

According to @venezuelast on Telegram, two people were killed after a bomb hit their car near the Oscar Machado Zoluaga Airport during the “aerial bombardment carried out by U.S. troops”. At least two people were reportedly burned to death in a white Arauca car. The Telegram post included two graphic videos showing a car in flames and the remains of the victims.

@venezuelanews21 posted an additional video on Telegram which showed a street sign indicating “Charallave” and “Caracas Maracay”, and then panned over to a white vehicle down the street in flames. The post indicated “civilians killed” in US airstrikes while stating that the official death toll was unknown at the time. Colombian President @petrogustavo later reposted the video on Twitter/X indicating “civilian victims”. There was no additional information found among local sources about the victims.

The location of the footage of the burning car was geolocated by Bellingcat and posted on Bluesky.

Where sources identified a belligerent, all sources attributed the attack to U.S. forces.