WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military launched a strike on another boat accused of carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing four people inthe fourth such attackannounced in the past few days.
The operation is the latest in a series ofstrikes on vesselsthat the Trump administration says were trafficking drugs in Latin American waters, a campaign that began more than seven months ago and continues even as the military has been preoccupied withthe Iran war.
The latest strike brings the death toll to 175 since the operations began in early September. The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended the search for one survivor from an attack Saturday.
U.S. Southern Commandposted aerial videoon social media Tuesday showing a vessel bobbing in the water before being struck by a projectile and exploding. The military earlier said it strucktwo boatson Saturday anda thirdon Monday.
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The military said all the vessels were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations” and that intelligence confirmed they “were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations” but did not provide evidence.
President Donald Trump has said the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and hasjustified the attacksas a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and fatal overdoses claiming American lives. But his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims of killing “narcoterrorists.”
The strikes began months ahead of the U.S. raid in January thatcaptured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was brought to New York toface drug trafficking chargesand has pleaded not guilty.
Criticshave questioned the overall legalityof the boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl behind many fatal overdoses is typically trafficked to the U.S.over land from Mexico, where it is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.
