Under President Trump, US forces have launched multiple strikes since September in the Caribbean and Pacific
A day later, the US military said it killed four suspected drug traffickers in another strike in the Pacific Ocean. PHOTO: REUTERS
The US military said it killed five alleged drug traffickers aboard two vessels in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday, taking the overall death toll in Washington’s campaign to more than 100 people.
Under President Donald Trump, US forces have carried out numerous strikes in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean since September.
The administration has provided no evidence that the targeted boats were involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of these operations.
The latest attacks hit two vessels in international waters that were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the US military’s Southern Command said on X.
Three people were killed in the first vessel and two in the second vessel, it said.
Since the start of the campaign, the strikes have now killed 104 people, according to an AFP tally based on official data.
Thursday’s operation came the same day Trump claimed he did not need lawmakers’s approval to strike suspected drug cartels on land in Venezuela, citing concerns over information leaks.
“I wouldn’t mind telling them, but you know, it’s not a big deal. I don’t have to tell them,” he said in the Oval Office.
Democratic lawmakers have maintained that the Trump administration needs congressional authorization to use the military for the purported anti-drug campaign.
The House of Representatives rejected two Democratic resolutions on Wednesday aimed at halting the strikes and “hostilities in or against Venezuela” without its authorization.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has claimed the US campaign seeks regime change instead of its stated goal of stopping drug trafficking.
On Tuesday, Trump ordered a blockade of “sanctioned oil vessels” to and from Venezuela, a move some Democrats labeled an “act of war.”
A day later, the US military said it killed four suspected drug traffickers in another strike in the Pacific Ocean.
During a September operation, the US military launched a second strike that killed survivors of an initial attack on the same vessel, prompting accusations of a possible war crime.
