U.S. forces blew up three boats overnight, killing 11 men in strikes in both the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, the military announced on Tuesday. The strikes raised the death toll in the U.S. campaign against people it accuses of drug smuggling at sea to at least 144.
The triple strike late Monday marked the first time the Trump administration bombed targets on both sides of the Panama Canal on the same day in its five-month string of boat attacks.
It was also the deadliest day of strikes this year. Of the 11 men killed, eight were on the two boats in the Pacific and the other three were in the Caribbean, the military said.
The U.S. Southern Command announced the strikes on social media with a 39-second video clip that appeared to show the three boats being destroyed. One was on the move, its outboard motors leaving a wake, while the other two appeared to be at full stop in the water.
A broad range of 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 command, which oversees U.S. military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean, cited unspecified intelligence in its announcement. It said all three boats had been traveling on “known narco-trafficking routes” and were “engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
The attacks suggested an uptick in the campaign. The military last killed 11 people in coordinated strikes on Dec. 30, when it attacked three boats that were traveling in a convoy in the Pacific. Those killed included eight people whom the military said jumped overboard before the second and third boats were hit, but were presumed dead after a search by the Coast Guard.
The U.S. military has carried out strikes every three or four days since the new head of the Southern Command, Gen. Francis L. Donovan, took over last month after the previous leader, Adm. Alvin Holsey, abruptly retired. Defense officials said Admiral Holsey had expressed concerns about the strikes.
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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