3 killed in US strike on alleged drug boat in Caribbean

Three individuals were killed during a Sunday strike led by U.S. forces on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean, officials said.

U.S. Southern Command posted a video of the attack and said the boat was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes.

It did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment regarding the boat’s origin and destination.

The strike brings the death toll from the Trump administration’s attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific to 181, according to The Associated Press. 

A wave of strikes began last September and have ramped again in recent weeks amid the Iran war. 

Some lawmakers and legal experts have questioned the lawfulness of the attacks, noting the lack of judicial process and citing freedom of navigation as codified in the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

However, in some cases, the Trump administration has argued vessels are tied to gangs now listed as foreign terrorist organizations to justify strikes on alleged drug boats. 

“This administration has designated these narco terrorists as foreign terrorist organizations,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing last year regarding the strikes. 

“The president has the right to take them out if they are threatening the United States of America if they are bringing illegal narcotics that are killing our citizens at a record rate, which is what they are doing,” she added. 

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