Four Killed in US Strike Targeting Suspected Drug Smuggling Boat

SadaNews - Four people were killed in a US airstrike, on Thursday-Friday, targeting a boat suspected of drug trafficking in the East Pacific, according to the US military, amid rising criticism of these strikes which have to date claimed more than 87 lives.

The US military's southern command stated in a post on the platform "X" that it targeted "a boat in international waters operated by a designated terrorist organization," adding that "intelligence information confirmed that the boat was carrying illegal drugs and was crossing a known drug trafficking route in the East Pacific."

The southern command confirmed the "deaths of four men from the drug trafficking terrorists who were onboard the boat," attaching the post with a video showing a multi-engine boat speeding before it was hit by an explosion and caught fire.

Since August, the Donald Trump administration has bolstered the US military presence in the Caribbean and off the coast of Venezuela under the pretext of combating drugs, accusing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a smuggling cartel.

On Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth stated that US strikes on drug boats "are still in their early stages."

These attacks have sparked international criticism and have been considered by UN experts as "extrajudicial executions," but Pentagon spokesperson Kingsley Wilson emphasized on Tuesday the legality of the strikes.

She stated at a press conference that the operations are "legal under US and international law, and all actions are consistent with the law of armed conflict."

The family of Colombian fisherman Alejandro Caranza, who died in a US strike, announced that they filed a complaint on Wednesday against the United States before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) based in Washington.

Caranza had set out to fish offshore on September 15 from the city of Santa Marta in northern Colombia, and was found dead after a few days, according to his family.

Since September, US forces have destroyed more than 20 boats suspected of being used in drug trafficking in the Caribbean and East Pacific, with strikes that have resulted in over 83 fatalities.