Eleven killed in new US strikes as maritime drug war continues

The United States military has carried out strikes on three additional vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, killing a total of 11 men, according to U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).

In an online statement accompanied by video footage showing the separate attacks, SOUTHCOM said the targeted vessels were travelling along established smuggling corridors and were involved in narcotics operations. “Intelligence confirmed the vessels were transiting along known narco-trafficking routes and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” the command said. No U.S. personnel were injured during the operation.

Officials reported that four men were killed aboard the first vessel struck in the Eastern Pacific, and another four died in a second strike in the same region. A third vessel in the Caribbean Sea was hit, killing three people.

The latest attacks form part of an expanded campaign launched by the administration of US President Donald Trump, under which American forces have conducted more than 40 lethal strikes against suspected drug-running boats in the Caribbean and Pacific since September. According to government figures, a total of 144 people have been killed in the operations, which are now overseen by U.S. Southern Command commander Gen. Francis Donovan.

US forces have increasingly targeted vessels believed to be transporting narcotics through maritime routes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. However, the pace of strikes has slowed notably since early January, when US forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the administration has accused of cooperating with drug-trafficking organisations.

Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said the broader mission is intended to remove “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere” and protect the United States from “the drugs that are killing our people.”

The US government has not publicly presented evidence proving that the targeted boats were carrying narcotics. The campaign has therefore drawn criticism from legal experts, some of whom argue the strikes may violate international law by targeting civilians without due process.

The Trump administration rejects those claims and maintains the operations are lawful. In a statement submitted to Congress, the White House said President Trump had “determined” that the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews operating drug-running vessels should be considered “combatants.”

The strikes have resulted in more than 130 deaths overall since the campaign began. Last week, a US Marine who fell overboard from an attack ship in the Caribbean became the first known American fatality linked to the operation targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats.

Legal challenges have also emerged. Families of several individuals killed in the strikes have filed lawsuits against the US government. Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed in an October 14 strike alleged the attack amounted to “lawless killings in cold blood; killings for sport and killings for theatre.”

By Tamilla Hasanova