US military kills 3 in latest strike on ‘narcoterrorist’ boat
The latest lethal strike pushes the overall death toll from the Trump administration’s deadly campaign to at least 148 across 43 attacks
The US military has carried out another deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
US Southern Command said on social media that the boat “was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations”. It said the strike on Friday killed three people. A video linked to the post shows a boat floating in the water before bursting into flames.
Friday’s attack raises the death toll from the Trump administration’s strikes on alleged drug boats to at least 148 people in at least 43 attacks carried out since early September in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.
The boat strikes has also drawn intense criticism following the revelation that the military killed survivors of the very first boat attack with a follow-up strike.
The Trump administration and many Republican lawmakers said it was legal and necessary, while Democratic lawmakers and legal experts said the killings were murder, if not a war crime.