US military kills four in Caribbean drug boat strike

The US military killed four people in a strike on a suspected drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, according to US Southern Command. The action is part of a nearly yearlong campaign against alleged traffickers that has drawn criticism from rights groups. The strike brings the death toll to at least 227 people across 68 strikes since the campaign began, according to an AP count Source: AP News. Reuters, tracking Caribbean and Eastern Pacific strikes together, puts the total above 210 Source: DW News.

The strike

Southern Command said in a post on X that "confirmed intelligence revealed the vessel's active involvement in narco-trafficking" and that the operation killed four "narco-terrorists" Source: DW News. The military did not identify those killed or provide a precise location, saying only that the boat was on established smuggling routes. No evidence was released showing the vessel carried drugs Source: AP News. A video posted on X showed a moving boat followed by a flash Source: AP News.

Tuesday's strike came two days after a similar attack in the Eastern Pacific killed two people, ending a pause of more than two months Source: AP News.

The reaction

Rights organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and independent UN investigators, say the strikes violate international law and amount to extrajudicial killings Source: DW News. President Donald Trump has said the US is in "armed conflict" with cartels and justified the attacks as necessary to stem drug flows, but his administration has offered little evidence to support its claims Source: AP News.

The campaign is expanding: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Colombia, Guatemala, and Honduras agreed to allow joint US operations on their soil, but Guatemala denied reaching such a deal Source: DW News. Ecuador began similar operations in March Source: AP News.