The US military reported on Wednesday that eight people were killed in several new strikes targeting suspected drug-smuggling boats, raising the total number of deaths in Washington's campaign against alleged narcotics traffickers to at least 115.
US Southern Command, which oversees American forces in Central and South America, said the strikes were carried out in two separate operations on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday, "three narco-trafficking vessels traveling as a convoy" were targeted in "international waters," it said in a statement on X.
"Three narco-terrorists aboard the first vessel were killed in the first engagement. The remaining narco-terrorists abandoned the other two vessels, jumping overboard and distancing themselves before follow-on engagements sank their respective vessels," it said.
Accompanying the statement, posted on X, was a video showing the vessels travelling together at sea and then hit by a series of explosions.
The exact location of the strikes was not immediately made clear. Previous strikes have taken place in the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific.
The military said it had notified the Coast Guard to "activate the Search and Rescue system," without offering more details about the fate of those aboard the other boats.
Hours later, it issued a second statement about strikes on two more vessels conducted on Wednesday, killing five people. Again, it was not clear where the strikes took place.
Since September, the US military has carried out more than 30 such strikes on what it says are boats used to smuggle drugs to the United States, without providing any concrete evidence that the targeted boats are involved in trafficking.
International law experts and rights groups say the strikes likely amount to extrajudicial killings as they have apparently targeted civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.
Meanwhile, the CIA was behind a drone strike last week at a docking area believed to have been used by Venezuelan drug cartels, according to two people familiar with details of the operation who requested anonymity to discuss the classified matter, as reported by the Assocaited Press.
In recent months, US President Donald Trump has waged a pressure campaign against Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of running a drug cartel. Maduro denies the allegation and has accused Washington of seeking regime change to gain access to the Latin American country's massive oil reserves.
The latest strikes raise the total number of known boat attacks to 35, with at least 115 people killed since early September, according to figures released by the Trump administration.
Trump has defended the operations as a necessary measure to curb drug trafficking into the United States, describing the effort as part of an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
(With inputs from agencies)
Key Takeaways
- The US military has conducted over 30 strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats, escalating tensions in international waters.
- Casualties have raised concerns regarding the legality of military actions against suspected traffickers, with accusations of extrajudicial killings.
- The operations are part of a broader political strategy against Venezuela's government, complicating US foreign relations.
