The US military said on Tuesday it had struck a vessel in the eastern Pacific, killing three people, in the latest such attack that rights groups label as “extrajudicial killings” and Washington describes as targeting “narco-terrorists”.
US Southern Command posted about the strike on social media Tuesday evening, alleging that the vessel struck on Tuesday was operated by “Designated Terrorist Organizations” that it did not identify.
No US military forces were harmed, Southern Command said. It described those killed as “male narco-terrorists”, without offering details or evidence.
“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the post read.
The Trump administration’s aggressive measures to stop what it calls “narcoterrorism” has ramped up in recent weeks, despite the war in Iran. A similar boat strike on Monday in the Caribbean Sea killed two people.
More than 190 people have been killed in so-called “narcoterrorism” strikes since September. However, the administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels are involved in drug trafficking, prompting debate about the legality of the operations.
Experts and human rights advocates, both in the US and globally, have raised questions about their legality with Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, saying the strikes amount to “unlawful extrajudicial killings”.
The American Civil Liberties Union casts the assertions by the Trump administration against those it targets as “unsubstantiated, fear-mongering claims”.
