The U.S. military on Thursday killed another five people accused by the Trump administration of trafficking narcotics by sea, Pentagon officials said. The two strikes bring the known death toll in the administration’s lethal campaign to 104 people since early September.
The strikes are the 27th known lethal operation since President Trump authorized military action against drug cartels. U.S. Southern Command announced the strike on social media with an accompanying video that showed a boat apparently being blown up.
Southern Command said in the post that the two boats were transiting along “known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific” when they were hit. There were three men in the first boat and two in the second, the announcement said.
The strikes come as some lawmakers continue to press the Trump administration and the Pentagon to provide more information justifying its deadly campaign against accused smugglers in the Pacific and the Caribbean.
The United States military is also enforcing a partial naval blockade of Venezuela, where the Trump administration continues to increase pressure on President Nicolás Maduro. President Trump has said he wants the Venezuelan leader to leave office, for reasons that remain unclear.
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
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