WASHINGTON, June 13 -- President Trump has announced that a US military strike inside Venezuela killed the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, a killing he said was coordinated with the government in Caracas, five months after American forces removed the country's president in a raid on the capital.

Writing on social media on Friday, Trump said the strike had killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, known as Nino Guerrero, whom he called the infamous head of the transnational gang. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation hit a Tren de Aragua compound in Venezuela earlier in the week.

What set the announcement apart was the claim of collaboration. The mission, Trump said, was closely coordinated with the Venezuelan government,...