US attack on suspected smuggling vessel kills three people.

The United States carried out a strike on a suspected drug‑trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Thursday, killing three men aboard, officials said.

The U.S. military launched Operation “Southern Spear” in early September after President Donald Trump declared that the country was effectively at war with drug cartels operating out of Latin America.

According to a tally by AFP, more than 200 people have been killed in strikes across the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean.

“Intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco‑trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and was engaged in narco‑trafficking operations,” U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said in a post on X.

The attack was the second this week, following a strike on Tuesday that killed one person aboard another vessel, while two other occupants reportedly survived.

The Trump administration has not provided definitive evidence that the vessels it has been striking are involved in drug trafficking.

Legal experts and rights groups argue that the strikes could amount to extrajudicial killings because they appear to target civilians who do not pose an immediate threat to the United States.

AFP

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