US military announces another ‘drug boat’ strike in Pacific, 4 killed this time
According to a statement by the US military’s Southern Command, it had “confirmed intelligence” that the boat was carrying illegal drugs.
The US military said it killed four men in a strike on a suspected drug vessel in international waters in the Eastern Pacific on Thursday, in what is being seen as a continuation of action against alleged drug traffickers by the Donald Trump administration.
According to a statement by the US military’s Southern Command, it had “confirmed intelligence” that the boat was carrying illegal drugs.
"On Dec. 4, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel in international waters operated by a Designated Terrorist Organisation. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed," the statement on X read.
The action was taken as part of Operation Southern Spear.
So far, there have been over 20 US military strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific against suspected drug vessels this year that have killed more than 80 people. Thursday’s strike was the first one in over a week.
It all started with an airstrike on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean on September 2, which President Donald Trump claimed killed 11 "Tren de Aragua Narcoterrorists” who were aboard the vessel.
September 2 strike under scanner
While the Donald Trump administration's strikes against alleged drug boats continue, its first such action that happened on September 2 is under the microscope.
The initial strike reportedly left survivors, who were killed in a subsequent strike, prompting critics to ask whether the operation violated laws and whether US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was responsible for it.
The Defence Department's Law of War Manual forbids attacks on combatants who are incapacitated, unconscious or shipwrecked, provided they abstain from hostilities or are not attempting to escape. The manual cites firing upon shipwreck survivors as an example of a "clearly illegal" order that should be refused.
Hegseth said on Tuesday he had watched the first US strike in September on the suspected drug-smuggling vessel in real time, but did not see survivors in the water or the second lethal strike that he described as being carried out in the "fog of war." But he defended Admiral Frank Bradley's decision to carry out a follow-up strike.
"Admiral Bradley made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat," Hegseth said.
