WASHINGTON: Strikes on three alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean killed eight people on Monday, according to the US military, the latest in a controversial campaign that has killed dozens of people.
Since early September, the US military under Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth has targeted alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, destroying at least 26 vessels and killing at least 95 people.
The US Southern Command announced the latest three strikes on X, saying the eight men killed had been involved in drug trafficking, without providing evidence.
The post included video footage of three separate boats floating in water before they are each hit by strikes.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking,” it said.
The strikes killed three men in the first vessel, two in the second and another three in the third, the US Southern Command added.
The strikes have drawn intense scrutiny from human rights advocates and Democratic lawmakers, with the United Nations’s human rights chief warning last month they could violate international law.
The US administration has labeled those killed as “unlawful combatants” and said it can legally engage in lethal strikes without judicial review due to a classified Justice Department finding.
US authorities have not provided specific evidence that the boats it has targeted were ferrying drugs.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that there would be an all-senators briefing Tuesday on the “administration’s rogue and reckless actions in the Caribbean,” with Hegseth and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“The American people deserve oversight. We intend to deliver it,” the senior Democratic party lawmaker said in an X post published before the latest strike announcement by the US military.
- Concern over strikes -
The strikes have been accompanied by a massive US military buildup in the Caribbean that includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier and a slew of other warships.
US President Donald Trump has insisted the goal is combating narco-trafficking, while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he suspects it is a pretext for leadership change in Caracas.
The admiral leading US forces in the Caribbean, Alvin Holsey, stepped down last week, just a year into his tenure and after reportedly expressing concerns about the boat strikes.
Neither he nor Hegseth have publicly provided a reason for his early departure.
“We must always be there for like-minded partners, like-minded nations who share our values — democracy, rule of law and human rights,” Holsey said in a ceremony to mark him relinquishing command.
During one of the first strikes in September, survivors of an initial attack on a boat were killed in a second US strike on the vessel, generating accusations of a possible war crime since media reported details of the incident in November.
Hegseth has maintained he did not order a second strike, instead attributing it to the operational commander Admiral Frank Bradley.
Even before news of the double-strike broke, UN rights chief Volker Turk had urged Washington to investigate the legality of the campaign and warned of “strong indications” of “extrajudicial killings.”