US military kills three people in boat strike in Pacific Ocean | US military
The US military attacked a boat accused of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing three people, as the Trump administration waged a months-long campaign against alleged traffickers in Latin America.
The latest attack brings to at least 211 the number of people the US military has killed in boat attacks since the Trump administration began targeting what it calls “narcoterrorists” in early September.
As with most of the military’s accounts of attacks in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it was targeting alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes. The military did not provide evidence that the ship was carrying drugs. A. Video published on X It showed a boat speeding through the water before being hit and bursting into flames.
Donald Trump said the United States was in an “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses that are claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support his claims that he killed “narcoterrorists.”
Critics have questioned the overall legality and effectiveness of boat attacks; That’s because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically smuggled into the United States overland from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
Senators demanded the Pentagon on Thursday release “unedited video” of the strikes. They have faced intense scrutiny from some Democratic lawmakers and military law experts. The U.S. military’s first strike in early September was met with particular concern by some lawmakers and those who practice military law.
The two men on that boat survived the initial attack, which killed nine people, and as they struggled to cling to the wreckage, the US struck the ship again, killing them. The White House confirmed the subsequent attack, insisting it was done “in self-defense” to ensure the destruction of the boat and in accordance with the laws of armed conflict.
But some legal experts said a second attack that killed the survivors would be illegal under all circumstances, whether there was a gunfight or not.
The Pentagon’s watchdog said in May that it planned to investigate whether the U.S. military followed an established targeting framework when carrying out the strikes. But the inspector general’s office said the assessment focused specifically on the six-stage joint targeting cycle, not the legality of the attacks.
