The US has carried out another military strike against what it claimed was a vessel carrying illegal drugs in the Caribbean, killing six people onboard, the Pentagon chief, Pete Hegseth, said.
In a social media post, Hegseth stated: “The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking route, and carrying narcotics.”
He added: “Six male narco-terrorists were aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters – and was the first strike at night. All six terrorists were killed and no U.S. forces were harmed in this strike.”
As has become common with the announcement of such attacks, Hegseth posted a short video showing a boat at sea suddenly exploding as it was struck with military ordnance.
Trump announced what appears to have been the first strike on a boat on 3 September, releasing a brief video of the attack.
Since then, the Trump administration has declared more strikes without disclosing many details about the targets other than the number of people killed and the allegation that the boats carried narcotics. The attacks have prompted widespread condemnation, including from civil liberties groups and South American countries.
Attacks have taken place both in the Caribbean and – this week – off the Pacific coast of South America.
Without providing any evidence, Hegseth said the target of the latest attack was “a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.”
The administration has referred to Tren de Aragua and other gangs as terrorist organisations. Legal experts suggested that simply characterizing gangs and drug cartels as terrorist organizations did not give the administration any additional authority to use lethal force.
White House officials have also sought to justify the strikes internally and externally by claiming Trump was exercising his powers under article 2 of the US constitution, which allows the president to use military force in self-defense in limited engagements.
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