The US military reported on Saturday that it had conducted a strike on a vessel in the eastern Pacific, resulting in the deaths of three individuals. This marked the second such operation in as many days.
According to the US Southern Command, intelligence had confirmed the vessel was operating along narco-trafficking routes in the eastern Pacific and was actively engaged in drug smuggling activities.
“Three male narco-terrorists were killed during this action,” the command stated on X. “No US military forces were harmed.”
On Friday, the US military reported another strike targeting a drug-smuggling vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean, which also resulted in three fatalities. The cumulative death toll from such US operations over recent months now exceeds 200 individuals.
The strikes on Friday and Saturday were part of four operations conducted during the previous week.
The Trump administration has declared the US to be in armed conflict with Latin American drug cartels, accusing them of supplying narcotics to American communities. However, the White House has not supplied conclusive evidence that the targeted vessels were involved in drug trafficking, raising questions about the legal basis for the recent strikes.
Legality of the strikes has been challenged by experts and human rights advocates. Organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have characterized the operations as unlawful extrajudicial killings.
