The Pentagon says its expanding maritime campaign against drug smuggling has now resulted in more than 100 deaths, following a pair of U.S. strikes Thursday on boats traveling in the eastern Pacific.
According to the U.S. military, two separate vessels were targeted along routes long associated with drug trafficking. Three people were killed when the first boat was hit, while two others died in the strike on a second vessel, the military said in a post on social platform X that also included a 30-second video of the attacks.
U.S. Southern Command said the boats were moving through “known narco-trafficking routes” in the eastern Pacific Ocean and were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations.” The command added that the vessels were operated by members of designated terrorist organizations, though it did not identify which groups were involved.
The military emphasized that no U.S. service members were injured during the operations.
Since early September, when the campaign began, U.S. forces have carried out at least 26 strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing a minimum of 104 people described by the Pentagon as narco-terrorists.
One of those earlier missions, conducted on Sept. 2, has drawn particular attention. During that operation, U.S. forces launched four strikes on a suspected drug-trafficking vessel in the Caribbean. The Washington Post later reported that a second attack during the same mission killed two individuals who had survived the initial strike and were clinging to the boat.
Amid the scrutiny, Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said Thursday that he has seen “no evidence of war crimes” connected to the operation. Some Democrats and experts in the law of armed conflict have argued that the follow-up strike may have violated international law.
{Matzav.com}
