Washington — The US military launched an attack on another boat accused of transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing four people The fourth attack of its kind Announced in the last few days.
The operation is the latest in a series of… Strikes on ships Which the Trump administration says was drug smuggling in Latin American waters, a campaign that began more than seven months ago and continues even as the military is preoccupied with it. Iran war.
This attack brings the death toll to 175 since the start of operations in early September. The US Coast Guard has suspended its search for a survivor of Saturday’s attack.
United States Southern Command Posted an aerial video Social media on Tuesday showed a ship bobbing in the water before being hit by a shell and exploding. The army said earlier that it had been hit Two boats On Saturday and One third on monday.
The military said all the ships were “operated by designated terrorist organizations” and that intelligence confirmed they “were transiting along known drug smuggling routes in the eastern Pacific and were involved in drug smuggling operations” but did not provide evidence.
President Donald Trump said the United States is in “armed conflict” with gangs in Latin America and has already done so Justify the attacks As a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and the fatal overdoses that claim the lives of Americans. But his administration has provided little evidence to support its claims of killing “narco-terrorists.”
The strikes began months before the US raid in January The arrest of then Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. He was brought to New York for He faces charges of drug trafficking He pleaded not guilty.
Critics They questioned overall legitimacy of boat strikes as well as their effectiveness, in part because the fentanyl responsible for many fatal overdoses is commonly smuggled into the U.S. On the ground from MexicoIt is produced with chemicals imported from China and India.