The Defense Department said that it blew up a boat in the Caribbean Sea on Monday, killing three people. The strike raised the death toll in the American campaign against people it accuses, without providing evidence, of smuggling drugs at sea to at least 150.
The United States Southern Command announced the strike on social media with a 20-second video clip that showed a stationary boat with two outboard engines floating in the water and then suddenly exploding.
Legal specialists on the use of lethal force have said the strikes are illegal, extrajudicial killings because the military cannot deliberately target civilians who do not pose an imminent threat of violence, even if they are suspected of engaging in criminal acts.
The Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean from its headquarters near Miami, cited unspecified intelligence in its announcement. It said the boat had been traveling on “known narco-trafficking routes” and was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
The attack, the 44th since the American campaign against the boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific started in early September, continued a recent increase in the pace of strikes.
The U.S. military has carried out strikes every three or four days since the new leader of the Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan of the Marine Corps, took over last month after the previous commander, Adm. Alvin Holsey, abruptly retired. Defense Department and congressional officials said Admiral Holsey had expressed concerns about the strikes.
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
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