US military strike on boat allegedly smuggling drugs kills three men - The Guardian

The US military launched a strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean, which killed three men – its third such attack over the course of a week.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” US Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, said on X.

The message was accompanied by a 20-second video of the strike, which shows black-and-white footage of a strike being launched and the boat bursting into flames.

The Southern Command identified the three men killed as “male narco-terrorists” and clarified that no US military forces were harmed in the strike.

Many have questioned the legality of the US boat strike initiative, including international legal scholars and national security experts.

“Under both US and international law, it is flagrantly illegal to use the military to kill civilians suspected only of crimes,” Jeffrey Stein, a staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Christopher Anders, director of the democracy and technology division at ACLU, said in a December statement. “Civilians, including those suspected of smuggling drugs, are not lawful targets. Just because the Trump administration says these strikes are firmly grounded in law doesn’t make it true.”

The most recent strike comes just three days after the last, which took place on 20 February and killed three men. The actions are part of the Trump administration’s increased investment of US forces in the region to intercept alleged “narco-terrorists”.

The latest attack brings the total number of people killed in US strikes on suspected boats since September to at least 151.