The US carried out a strike at a docking area allegedly used for Venezuelan boats to load drugs, President Donald Trump said Monday.

This marks the first known time the US has operated on land in Venezuela since starting to put pressure on President Nicolas Maduro's government.

"We hit all the boats and now we hit the area," Trump said, adding the targeted area was used for "implementation."

The US president said the attack took place "along the shore," without giving further details regarding its location.

Trump did not say whether the strike was a military or a CIA operation. "I know exactly who it was but I don't want to say who it was," Trump replied when asked.

What was the background to the strike?

The Trump administration has been threatening ground operations on drug cartels in the region would start "soon," and the Republican president seemed to have insinuated in a radio interview that such an attack took place.

"They have a big plant of a big facility where they send, you know, where the ships come from," Trump told WABC Radio in New York.

"Two nights ago we knocked that out. So we hit them very hard."

The White House, the CIA and the Pentagon have not publicly commented on Trump's claims, and neither has the government in Venezuela.

Edited by: Farah Bahgat