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A U.S. military strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean killed four people, officials said Saturday.
The U.S. military carried out a strike against a boat suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea on Saturday, killing four people, according to U.S. Southern Command. The operation is part of the Trump administration’s continuing campaign against suspected drug-trafficking groups operating in Latin America and the Caribbean. The military said the vessel was traveling along a known smuggling route.
Southern Command said intelligence indicated that the vessel was involved in narcotics trafficking, but the military did not provide publicly available evidence showing that drugs were aboard the boat. A video released by the command showed what appeared to be a moving vessel followed by an explosion. The identities of those killed and the precise location of the strike were not immediately disclosed.
The latest operation brings the reported number of people killed in U.S. military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels to at least 231 across 69 strikes, according to AP. The campaign has included operations in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific and has increasingly become part of the administration’s broader effort to disrupt alleged trafficking networks.
The strikes have also drawn scrutiny over their legal basis and the evidence used to identify targets. The Trump administration has described the United States as being in an armed conflict with drug cartels and has defended the operations as necessary to combat narcotics entering the country. Critics and human rights experts have questioned the use of lethal military force against suspected traffickers without publicly established evidence or judicial proceedings.
Sources: Reuters, The Associated Press, Euronews, NBC News, ABC News and The Hindu.