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US Military Kills Four in Caribbean Drug Strike
Confirmed
In Short: The US military killed four people in a strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, raising the death toll to 231 across 69 operations since September.
The US military killed four people in a strike on a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Caribbean, US Southern Command said Saturday.
The operation, part of the ongoing 'Southern Spear' campaign, targeted a vessel operating along established drug-trafficking routes in the region.
Since the campaign began last September, the US military has conducted 69 strikes, killing more than 220 individuals, according to a UN report.
The report, by Special Rapporteur Ben Saul, concluded that recent US airstrikes on vessels allegedly trafficking drugs breached international law and could constitute crimes against humanity.
The latest attack brings the number of people killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 231 in 69 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls 'narcoterrorists' about one year ago.
As with most of the military's statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.
However, the military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.
President Trump has said the U.S. is in 'armed conflict' with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama last month that Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil.
Last month, the U.S. military worked with Ecuador to board and sink a vessel that was allegedly being used as a refueling station for drug-trafficking boats in the eastern Pacific, according to U.S. Southern Command.
Democrats have vehemently protested the campaign, which they argue vets the suspected drug traffickers improperly and uses unnecessary lethal force.
The attacks have been the most noticeable new hardline tactic of the Trump administration in the war on drugs.
What this adds
The report adds that the US military's campaign against suspected drug smuggling boats has killed more than 220 people in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific since September.
The sources have not established the exact location of the latest strike or the identities of those killed.
Background
The US military carried out a lethal strike against a high-speed vessel suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, killing four people, US Southern Command said Saturday. The operation targeted a vessel operating along established drug-trafficking routes in the region.
Since the Trump administration began targeting what it calls 'narcoterrorists' about one year ago, the death toll from US military strikes on vessels suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean has reached 231.
What's confirmed
- The report comes two days after the US military said it killed four people in a strike on a vessel in the Caribbean.
- The latest attack brings the number of people who have been killed in boat strikes by the U.S. military to at least 231 in 69 strikes since the Trump administration began targeting those it calls "narcoterrorists" about one year ago.
- As with most of the military's statements on strikes in the eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said it targeted the alleged drug traffickers along known smuggling routes.
- The military did not provide evidence that the vessel was ferrying drugs.
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said during a visit to Panama last month that Colombia, Guatemala and Honduras had agreed to allow the U.S. to carry out joint military operations against criminal groups on their soil.
- President Trump has said the U.S. is in "armed conflict" with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the U.S. and fatal overdoses claiming American lives.
- "Joint Task Force Western Hemisphere executed a lethal, kinetic strike on a go-fast vessel operating along established narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean," US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a statement shared on social media.
What's still developing
- No proof was provided by the military to confirm the vessel carried drugs No proof was provided by the military to confirm the vessel carried drugs Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later?
- PICTURE: US Southern Command/Handout via Reuters “Confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel’s active involvement in narco-trafficking,” the military’s Southern Command posted on X.
- A projectile approaches a vessel, which the US military alleges was involved in drug trafficking, during a strike at a location given as the Caribbean, in this still image taken from video released on 19th September, 2026.