The US military said it killed three men in a strike on an alleged drug‑trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Sunday.
US Southern Command posted on X that it “conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” saying the attack killed what it described as “male narco‑terrorists.” A video released of the strike shows an explosion aboard a small boat on open water.
The command said the vessel was operating along known narcotics‑smuggling routes and was engaged in trafficking activity when it was targeted. It added that US forces suffered no casualties.
The campaign has been controversial: the AFP news agency reports that at least 180 people have been killed in related strikes since last year.
The Trump administration has portrayed the operations as part of a campaign against “narco‑terrorists” in Latin America, carrying out repeated strikes on suspected smuggling boats since September while building up what it calls the largest US military presence in the region in generations. President Donald Trump has said the US is in “armed conflict” with cartels as officials seek to curb drug flows into the country.
Critics have questioned the legality of the strikes, saying the administration has provided little public evidence to substantiate claims that those killed were “narco‑terrorists.”
Edited by: Wesley Dockery