The U.S. military killed two people Tuesday in another strike on boats suspected of smuggling drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced.
It was the 16th announced strike in the offensive that began in early September, and raised the death toll to at least 67 people in attacks in both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific.
In a posting on social media, Mr. Hegseth cited “intelligence” and showed a short video clip of the bombing of a boat, but he did not provide evidence for his claim that two men who were aboard were smuggling narcotics. He said the attack took place in international waters.
A wide range of specialists in laws governing the use of force have denounced the killings as illegal because the military is not allowed to intentionally target civilians who pose no threat of imminent violence, even suspected criminals. The Trump administration says they are lawful because President Trump “determined” the United States is in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels.
Tuesday’s attack was the first in the Pacific since the Mexican Navy stopped searching for a man who was initially spotted clinging to wreckage of a boat that was bombed by the United States on Oct. 27. Nobody was found, and he is presumed dead.
Carol Rosenberg reports on the wartime prison and court at Guantánamo Bay. She has been covering the topic since the first detainees were brought to the U.S. base in 2002.
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