US kills four in strike on alleged drug boat in the Caribbean
US Southern Command says a strike on Saturday killed four people aboard a go-fast vessel in the Caribbean, taking the death toll from the year-long anti-drug boat campaign to at least 231 across 69 strikes.
The US military says it has killed four people in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean that it alleged was involved in drug trafficking.
“On September 19, under the direction of Southern Command, Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean,” US Southern Command said in a statement, adding: “Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking. The operation killed four narco-terrorists.”
The strike is the latest in a campaign the Trump administration launched nearly a year ago against what it calls “narcoterrorists”. An Associated Press tally puts the death toll from the boat strikes at at least 231 people across 69 strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, while CNN’s analysis puts it at 234 killed. The previous strike, ten days earlier and also in the Caribbean, killed three people, Reuters reported.
As with earlier strikes, the military provided no public evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs. President Donald Trump has said the US is in “armed conflict” with Latin American cartels, while rights groups have labelled the attacks “extrajudicial killings”.
Sources
- Reuters — US says it killed four people in strike on vessel in Caribbean
- AP via Sowetan — US military says it killed four in strike on alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean
- CNN — A timeline of US strikes on boats that have killed at least 234
- Straits Times — US says it killed four in strike on vessel in the Caribbean
- Al Arabiya — US military says killed four in Caribbean boat strike
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