The U.S. military conducted a strike on another boat accused of carrying narcotics on board, killing three people, U.S. Southern Command announced Sunday. It was the 21st such strike reported in recent weeks.
The attack on Saturday targeted a vessel operated by "a Designated Terrorist Organization" in the Eastern Pacific in international waters, authorities said. SOUTHCOM did not disclose the organization or where the vessel was traveling from.
In a video posted to social media, SOUTHCOM said the vessel was carrying narcotics and transiting along a known drug-trafficking route.
The latest strike comes amid a major U.S. military buildup in the region. On Sunday, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its carrier strike group arrived in the Caribbean Sea. Southern Command is the primary combatant unit for operations in the Caribbean and South America. The USS Ford is the largest aircraft carrier in the world, and the U.S. Navy's most advanced.
The administration has insisted that the buildup of warships is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were "narco-terrorists."
Since September, U.S. forces have struck at least 22 vessels allegedly carrying drugs from South America to the U.S., killing at least 83 people.
The Trump administration says the operations — the details of which remain sparse — are part of an anti-drug offensive. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dubbed the wider anti-trafficking effort Operation Southern Spear.
The president has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organizations. He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the U.N. human rights chief and lawmakers, including some Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.
Stephen Smith contributed to this report.
