Another US strike on suspected drug boat kills 4 in eastern Pacific

The U.S. military said it carried out another strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, killing four people aboard a boat it accused of drug trafficking, according to the Associated Press. The operation marked the fourth such strike announced in the past few days, and it came as the Trump administration’s campaign described as targeting cartel activity in Latin American waters continued even amid other military priorities.

U.S. Southern Command posted aerial video Tuesday showing a vessel bobbing on the water before being hit by a projectile and exploding, the AP reported. The AP said the military previously described strikes on two boats on Saturday and a third on Monday, framing them as part of the same effort.

In a statement accompanying the latest strike, the military said the vessels were “operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations.” It also said intelligence confirmed the boats were “transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Eastern Pacific and were engaged in narco-trafficking operations,” while not providing evidence publicly, the AP reported.

The latest strike increased the running death toll to 175 since the operations began in early September, the AP said. The AP reported that the U.S. Coast Guard suspended the search for one survivor from an attack Saturday.

President Donald Trump has described the U.S. as being in “armed conflict” with cartels in Latin America and has justified the attacks as an escalation intended to stem the flow of drugs into the United States and reduce fatal overdoses, the AP reported. The AP said critics have questioned both the legality of the boat strikes and their effectiveness, including because fentanyl that leads to many overdoses is typically trafficked over land from Mexico, where it is produced using chemicals imported from China and India.

The AP said the strikes began more than seven months before a January U.S. raid that captured then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, who was brought to New York to face drug trafficking charges and has pleaded not guilty.