Eyewitness claims US soldiers used mystery weapon to make Maduro's guards bleed from nose, White House appears to endorse claims

The U.S. attack and capture of Venezuela president Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3 have provoked much reaction around the world.

The broad details of the operation were shared by Air Force general Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Further details from an eyewitness on the ground have made their way online.

One of the details making the rounds was that only 20 soldiers took on the numerically superior Venezuelan forces.

According to a Venezuelan source:

"Yes, but it was a massacre. We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed... it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn't do anything."

The eyewitness also described a mystery weapon which rendered them immobile:

"At one point, they launched something — I don't know how to describe it... it was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move."

Disbelief was expressed at the technological disparity:

"We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I've never seen anything like it. We couldn't even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was."

This account was retweeted by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

The official White House account also appeared to co-sign the eyewitness account.

Leavitt and the White House, however, did not respond to a New York Post query on the legitimacy of the account.

An ex-U.S. intelligence source told the Post that the U.S. military has had "directed energy weapons — which neutralise targets using focused energy such as microwaves or laser beams — for years", but that this could be the first time it has been used in combat.

Image from White House and Dept of War/FB