U.S. Military Strikes Drug Boat in Pacific, Raising Death Toll to 202
The U.S. military conducted another strike on a suspected drug vessel Friday, killing three men and bringing the total death toll from the campaign above 200. Officials said the boat was engaged in narco-trafficking and operated by a designated terrorist organization.
The GuardianThe U.S. military carried out another strike Friday on a boat accused of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three men and pushing the overall death toll above 200 people. U.S. Southern Command announced the latest strike in the months-long campaign against alleged drug boats traversing the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific.
The command stated the vessel was engaged in narco-trafficking operations and operated by a designated terrorist organization, but provided no evidence.
Command said in its post on X that the strike came at the direction of Gen. Francis L. Donovan, the top U.S. commander in Latin America, who on Friday also met with Cuban military leaders near the U.S. Navy base in Guantanamo Bay. While the military’s social media announcements always include video of the attacks, this appears to be the first with the footage in color instead of black and white.
The video shows a small vessel floating in the ocean before it is hit and engulfed in a fireball. It cuts to what could be the boat in flames, surrounded by a large plume of parcels or some other objects spread around it in the water.
The attack puts the death toll at 202 people from the series of U.S. strikes that began in early September, with two other attacks announced Tuesday and Wednesday. The death toll also rose slightly this week because some people that had been initially reported by the U.S. military as survivors of the strikes have not been found.
The Trump administration has declared that the U.S. is at armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, saying they are behind the flow of drugs into American communities.
The legality of the boat strikes has come under scrutiny by experts. The White House later confirmed a Washington Post report that in the first attack, which occurred on Sept. 2, the U.S. conducted a follow-on strike, or so-called double tap, that killed two survivors of the initial strike on the vessel.
Some lawmakers have questioned whether that follow-on strike constituted a war crime.
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- CBS News reported: In the first strike on Sept. 2, the U.S. conducted a follow-on strike that killed two survivors of the initial strike.
- CBS News reported: Some survivors initially reported from prior strikes have not been found, slightly raising the death toll.
- CBS News reported: Some lawmakers have questioned whether the follow-on strike constituted a war crime.
- The Guardian reported: Experts and human rights advocates have raised questions about the legality of the operations.
- The Guardian reported: Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have said the strikes amount to unlawful extrajudicial killings.
- The Guardian reported: The American Civil Liberties Union has cast the administration's assertions as unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims.
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