Cuban forces kill 4 exiles who attacked from Florida speedboat

Cuban forces have killed four exiles and wounded six others who sailed aboard a Florida-registered speedboat on Wednesday and opened fire on a patrol, the government said at a time of heightened tensions with the US.

The country's Interior Ministry said the group was comprised of anti-government Cubans, some of whom were previously wanted for plotting attacks. They came from the US dressed in camouflage and armed with assault rifles, handguns, homemade explosives, ballistic vests and telescopic sights, Cuba said.

An additional Cuban suspect was detained inside the territory in connection with the plot, the statement said. 

"According to preliminary statements from the detainees, they intended to carry out an infiltration for terrorist purposes," the Interior Ministry said in an official statement. The wounded were evacuated and receiving medical attention, while the Cuban patrol commander was also wounded, the ministry said.

Cuba said it identified the six detainees from the boat, two of whom were previously wanted on suspicion of planning terrorist acts against Cuba: Amijail Sanchez Gonzalez and Leordan Enrique Cruz Gomez. The other four were identified as Conrado Galindo Sariol, Jose Manuel Rodriguez Castello, Cristian Ernesto Acosta Guevara, and Roberto Azcorra Consuegra.

In addition, Cuba said it detained another Cuban, Duniel Hernandez Santos, who had come from the US to the island to receive the infiltrators.

One of the dead was identified as Michel Ortega Casanova, while the other three dead had yet to be identified, Cuba said.

The speedboat came within one nautical mile of a channel on Falcones Cay, on the north coast of Cuba about 200 km east of Havana, when it was approached by five members of a Cuban border patrol unit, Cuba said.

The speedboat then opened fire, wounding the commander of the Cuban vessel, the statement said.

Florida politicians called for separate investigations, saying they did not trust the Cuban account. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said he was ordering prosecutors to open an investigation in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement partners.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters it was not a US operation and that no US government personnel were involved. Cuban authorities made the US aware of the incident, but the US embassy in Havana would attempt to independently verify what happened, Rubio said.

"We are going to have our own information on this, we are going to figure out exactly what happened, and there are a number of things that could have happened here," Rubio said. "Suffice to say it is highly unusual to see shootouts in open sea like that," he said.

US Representative Carlos Gimenez, a Republican whose district includes the southern tip of Florida, called for a federal investigation, saying he had asked the US State Department and military to look into the matter. "United States authorities must determine whether any of the victims were US citizens or legal residents and establish exactly what occurred," Gimenez said.

The incident took place as the US has blocked virtually all oil shipments to the island, increasing pressure on the Communist-run government.

American forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas on January 3, removing a key Cuban ally from power, and Rubio reiterated his rhetoric against the Cuban government on Wednesday, calling the status quo unsustainable and saying Cuba needed to change "dramatically".

Cuban exiles who are largely concentrated in Miami have long dreamed of overthrowing the Cuban government or seeing it fall and have in the past plotted against the government that was established by the late revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, who died in 2016 at age 90.