ISTANBUL

US President Donald Trump said American forces used a classified device called "discombobulator" during the Jan. 3 raid in Caracas that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

Trump boasted the weapon “made (enemy) equipment not work” when US forces entered Caracas.

"They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us," he told the New York Post.

He did not disclose any more details about the system. "The discombobulator. I'm not allowed to talk about it," the US president said.

He earlier characterized the technology as a "secret sonic weapon" that "nobody else has."

Claims about the device emerged in a social media post cited by White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, featuring an unnamed Venezuelan security official's account of the attack.

The official alleged all radar systems suddenly shut down, claiming to have sensed something resembling an intense sound wave that made his head feel like it would explode.

The US military strike on Jan. 3 led to the capture of Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, following months of escalating tensions over alleged drug trafficking.