The US Army carried out an attack on a vessel in the Caribbean this Thursday (7), local time, killing three people, according to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“Today, on orders from President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization,” Hegseth said in a Facebook post.
“The vessel was trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean and was hit in international waters,” added the secretary.
Hegseth added that American forces suffered no injuries in the attack.
The US Army killed 70 people in 17 attacks that destroyed 18 vessels, as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at .
Three people survived the attacks, two of whom were detained by the US Navy before being returned to their home countries. The third was considered dead after searches carried out by the Mexican Navy.
The Trump administration has reported that the US is now in an “armed conflict” against drug cartels since the first attack on September 2, classifying those killed as “illegal combatants” and claiming it has the ability to carry out lethal attacks without judicial review due to a confidential Justice Department finding.
Some members of Congress, as well as human rights groups, questioned this conclusion and argued that potential drug traffickers should be prosecuted, as was the interdiction policy implemented by the US before President Donald Trump took office.
The Trump administration also did not present public evidence of the presence of narcotics on the affected boats, nor of their connection to drug cartels.
Military officials said no American service members were injured in the attacks.
