Strikes On 3 More Alleged Drug Boats Kill 11 People, U.S. Military Says | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. navy mentioned Tuesday that it carried out strikes on three boats accused of smuggling medication in Latin American waters, killing 11 individuals in one of many deadliest days of the Trump administration’s monthslong marketing campaign towards alleged traffickers.

The collection of strikes performed Monday introduced the loss of life toll to not less than 145 individuals for the reason that administration started focusing on these it calls “narcoterrorists” in small vessels since early September.

Like a lot of the navy’s statements on the 42 identified strikes, U.S. Southern Command mentioned it focused alleged drug traffickers alongside identified smuggling routes. It mentioned two vessels carrying 4 individuals every had been struck within the jap Pacific Ocean, whereas a 3rd boat with three individuals was hit within the Caribbean Sea.

The navy didn’t present proof that the vessels had been ferrying medication however posted movies on X that confirmed boats being destroyed.

The movies posted by Southern Command present the boats both transferring or bobbing within the water earlier than the explosions engulf them in flames. People may be seen sitting in two of the small, open vessels earlier than they’re destroyed.

President Donald Trump has mentioned the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the assaults as a mandatory escalation to stem the move of medication.

Critics have questioned the general legality of the strikes in addition to their effectiveness, partially as a result of the fentanyl behind many deadly overdoses is usually trafficked to the U.S. over land from Mexico, the place it’s produced with chemical compounds imported from China and India.

The boat strikes additionally drew intense criticism following the revelation that the navy killed survivors of the very first boat assault with a follow-up strike. The Trump administration and lots of Republican lawmakers mentioned it was authorized and mandatory, whereas Democratic lawmakers and authorized specialists mentioned the killings had been homicide, if not a conflict crime.

The assaults adopted the Trump administration starting one of many largest buildups of U.S. navy would possibly in Latin America in generations as a part of a stress marketing campaign that culminated with the seize of then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He was dropped at the U.S. to face drug trafficking costs after a Jan. 3 raid by American forces.

The world’s largest plane provider was ordered to the Caribbean late final yr and instructed final week to go to the Middle East as tensions between the U.S. and Iran develop.

USS Gerald R. Ford and three accompanying destroyers had been within the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday and now not within the U.S. Southern Command’s space of operations, in keeping with a Navy official, who spoke on situation of anonymity with a purpose to talk about delicate ship actions.

The Ford will bolster an array of U.S. warships within the Middle East that features the USS Abraham Lincoln plane provider.

Since Maduro’s seize, the U.S. navy has reported a number of boat strikes, whereas American forces even have seized oil tankers linked with Venezuela as a part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to take management of the South American nation’s oil.

Republicans in Congress have defeated Democratic-led efforts to rein in Trump’s potential to conduct additional assaults in Venezuela.